We are wholly human:
The  soul-mind-body share
Each moment in time-space,
With just one chance to care.

We are holy humans:
Hearts whispering a prayer;
Urgent voice within us,
“Please spread love everywhere!”

We are wholly holy:
Our minds charge, “Be aware!
Our conscience and our love
Can ease the world’s despair!”

Wholly Holy Humans:
Whose souls scream, “We don’t dare
Ignore our primal cry!”
We must answer . . . . .
. . . . . with a prayer.

The need to love and be loved: our primal cry is just that simple and just that complex.  Love demands much from us.  Caring, compassion, kindness and commitment rank high among those requirements.  Without love none of us would survive beyond birth.  We need each other.  Alone, we die.  Together we flourish and have the opportunity to experience joy, hope purpose and contentment in our lives. Yet nothing is guaranteed.  That means we have work to do!

Fully understanding who we are as human beings is our essential task.  When I refer to us as “wholly holy humans,”  I mean we are the embodiment of conscience and love [holy] with the instinct for personal and species survival [human.]  These two primary aspects of human nature are permanently intricately intertwined.  Nevertheless, tension exists between them.  This tension may be thought of as a tug-of-war for dominance.  Our holiness and our humanness are constantly competing for our attention as we choose how to view both the world and our place in it.  This tension gives birth to most of the challenges we face throughout life.

Our personal and species survival rely upon our interdependence with each other, which in turn requires us to love and have compassion for one another.  Meanwhile, our humanness decrees we want to define the terms for interdependence!  Moreover, our definition of survival has become, “I want to be who I choose, live as I choose, while maintaining my self-esteem along with my reputation and status in society!”  Each and every time we perceive our desires are threatened or under attack, we feel afraid.

Fear may lead to anger, antagonism, even war.  But on a day-to-day basis, fear often lurks beneath our awareness, creating suspicion, hypervigilance, and anxiety.  Such states of mind may lead us to misinterpret the people and circumstances in our lives.  Too often, we don’t recognize our fear and ‘own’ it as an essential and useful part of who we are.  Instead, because we have come to believe fear is a human weakness, we externalize it.  Consequently we mislabel our fear (often in a self-serving or righteous manner!)  then name a scapegoat.

Our scapegoats take many forms:  another person; a group of people; natural and accidental events; a world view or a religion; a supernatural being like a devil.  All become diversions which prevent us from correctly understanding our own issues and finding useful solutions to  them.  They waste our time, emotions and energy while leading us down a rabbit hole.  We may war with our scapegoats, but we can never control them!

Fortunately there is another path.  By recognizing and embracing who we are as human beings, we can actually nurture our holiness by putting our survival instinct to good use, the use for which it was intended!  It is incumbent upon all of us to use our innate intelligence  to continuously question our perceptions with self-honesty and an open mind.  Our challenges were born within us. Their solutions must come from within.  Voila!  Control is in reach!

Dedicated to:

The people of Charlottesville, Virginia, who endured bearing witness to the consequences of fear run amuck while seeing events for what they really were, yet persevering with grace, dignity and forgiveness.

The people in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and all the Caribbean Islands who were in the path of recent hurricanes, along with those who came to provide assistance.  The world was privileged to witness your struggle as you faced catastrophic conditions.  You showed all of us the enormous capabilities of humanity,  giving us hope.  May your recovery be swift, your hearts lightened.