Martin Luther King, Jr. STILL gives me goosebumps...

Happy MLK day IC peeps! As is my MLK holiday tradition, I just finished listening to MLK's "I have a dream..." speech. It's by far one of the top 10 speeches in American history in my humble opinion, a close first to Abraham Lincoln's, Gettysburg Address, "Four score and seven years ago...." which in fact highly influenced MLK's dream speech written one hundred years later as he built upon Lincoln's 1863 unheard of proposition that "all men are created equal." MLK is a prime example of a man who pursued his North Star with great devotion and diligence. I highlighted him last year in a MLK Freedom Series blog article.

Even though MLK's physical form is gone, his merits, words and ideals are far from dead (IC Truth #2 Energy never dies it just changes form)--I still get goosebumps listening to him, especially these lines:

• "In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force."

• "There are those who are asking...'When will you be satisfied!'....No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

The first quote is a beautiful reminder to conduct oneself by LIVING his or her highest ideals (North Stars), which for MLK and the civil rights devotees were justice and freedom for all. The second quote is a beautiful visual using the metaphor of nature, which is 100% equanimous, always, no exception. 

May you remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today and be inspired and filled with his goodness, his mercy and his belief in things yet unseen. In thanksgiving, how might you--"...allow freedom to ring--when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We are free at last."

Exercising Freedom by Following One's Inner Compass

AAAARRRRGGGG! It's been almost two weeks since writing a blog article! I apologize, never has it been so long. A loved one had fairly extensive surgery, and I was focused on his comfort. Good news is--tapping came to the rescue once again. My charge is doing fantastic and he attributes his quick recovery to the meridian tapping :) OK, so I bit off a huge bite in my last article, saying the month of January would address "freedom" as a North Star. We discussed my favorite seeker of freedom, Joan of Arc, last article, and this week we celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. So, I was thinking, why not highlight these two stellar examples of freedom exercised at its finest.

To me, one definition of living free means to follow one's inner voice. Joan did this par excellent, even when her internal compass went against the authority of her age--the Church. MLK is another such person recently honored for his persistent voice of freedom in the face of social injustice. His internal compass of equal rights for all was perhaps best expressed in his "I have a Dream," speech. Both Joan and MLK maintained their personal visions even when they were not yet reality. For MLK equal rights would be another twenty years in coming after his death, and interestingly, for Joan, the same span of years would pass after her burning before her people were free from English occupation.

For both MLK and Joan, living free was first perfected on the inside. If you were to live free and follow your inner compass what would life look like? My wish for myself and others is inner freedom regardless of circumstances and the exercising of our dreams until they become reality. In the closing words of MLK, "Free at last, free at last, thank God, Almighty, we are free at last!"

“Love Your Enemies,” MLK Jr Speech For Our Time

As I watched the events at the Capitol breech unfold, I honestly was not surprised. The division in our country is completely out of control and the events reflected these conditions. Perhaps it was the timing of Martin Luther King Jr’s remembrance in the weeks that followed, but a sermon came strongly to mind entitled, “Love Your Enemies.” As I listened to the speech, I felt MLK was speaking directly to our nation, directly to our government and to each citizen’s good heart. A few quotes stood out:  

Now first let us deal with this question, which is the practical question: How do you go about loving your enemies? I think the first thing is this: In order to love your enemies, you must begin by analyzing self. 

When there is hate within us that has not cared for, it will spill out onto everyone in its path, same goes for fear, and any other strong, unchecked emotion. MLK goes on to offer two more how-to’s and the next is perhaps my favorite:

A second thing that an individual must do in seeking to love his enemy is to discover the element of good in his enemy, and every time you begin to hate that person and think of hating that person, realize that there is some good there and look at those good points which will over-balance the bad points. 

I have been saddened by the criticizing, sneering and dehumanizing of the hurt people pouring their pain out onto the streets, into businesses and now into our nation’s capitol. Are we listening? Are we trying to understand their concerns? Or shutting them down due to intolerance? 

Another way that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it. 

Love does not mudd-sling, love does not kick when a person is down. MLK orates to perfection, building and infusing his words with moral integrity. In closing, he implores:

Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love.

On this day, dedicated to a heroic and beautiful man, please enjoy Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words and allow them to penetrate into your being, into your response and fortitude. His is the greatest call ~ to love one’s enemy in this time of division as we prepare for inauguration and changing of the guard.    

 

Martin Luther King ~ North Star of Equality Shines Bright

It's been a long time since writing in the "Freedom Series" category of this blog, and I know--I've highlighted MLK before but by far he's one of my favorites, so I'm extolling his praises again! I'm presently reading his book: Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community and this story struck me as clearly defining a major driving force in MLK's life, his aspiration or in Inner Constellation language~his North Star:

...a group of us packed into four automobiles and made our way to that desolate spot on Hwy 51 where James Meredith had been shot the day before. So began the second stage of the Meredith Mississippi Freedom March. As we walked down the meandering highway in the sweltering heat, there was much talk and many questions were raised. 

"I'm not for that  nonviolence stuff any more," shouted one of the younger activists.

"If one of these damn white Mississippi crackers touches me, I'm gonna knock the hell out of him," shouted another.

Later on a discussion of the composition of the march came up.

"This should be an all-black march," said one marcher. "We don't need any more white phonies and liberals invading our movement. This is our march."

Once during the afternoon we stopped to sing, "We Shall Overcome." The voices rang out with all the traditional fervor, the glad thunder and gentle strength that had always characterized the singing of this noble song. But when we came to the stanza which speaks of "black and white together," the voices of a few of the marchers were muted. I asked them later why they refused to sing that verse. The retort was:

"This is a new day, we don't sing those words any more. In fact, the whole song should be discarded. Not 'We Shall Overcome,' but 'We Shall Overrun.'"

As I listened to all these comments, the words fell on my ears like strange music from a foreign land. My hearing was not attuned to the sound of such bitterness. I guess I should not have been surprised....I should have been reminded that disappointment produces despair and despair produces bitterness, and that the one thing certain about bitterness is its blindness. Bitterness has not the capacity to make the distinction between some and all." *

Equality shines bright in our hero Martin Luther King, Jr. May we, as his continuation, strive toward a freedom that sees not gender, race, sexual preference, financial status, class, political party or any other contrived divisions but rather practices this sole desire ~ for all beings everywhere to live unmolested and in peace.

Happy MLK day everyone. 


   * Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? on sale for $7.68 (Amazon) consider adding this classic to your North Star library

Forces that Shape

Hello, darling dears. I had the most wonderful experience a few weeks ago of falling in love, yet again. I was talking to my husband (who is my greatest love:) about people (and critters) you just happen to meet and immediately feel some kind of connection—strong and unexplainable. We’ve all experienced it and don’t really know why as we’re drawn heart-to-heart like magnets. My husband gave it a word— “imprinting.” Now, at first his choice gave me pause, I worked at a wildlife center for years and imprinting was something to avoid at all cost, otherwise you might have a 500# pound bear thinking you’re his mama! But upon closer inspection of the word, my husband may be onto something:

To impress or stamp upon, to come to recognize in another habitual trust

Hmmm, um, yah, could meet the definition. My newest love is the dear, sweet girlfriend of my nephew (another one I’ve imprinted on). Somehow I know, whatever may come, this girl is a keeper for me. I also owe her tremendous gratitude  because in analyzing the precious ones whom have imprinted upon me, they all share something in common—Grit (with a capitol G).

I realized too, those spiritual ancestors that I have imprinted upon: Martin Luther King, Jr (happy MLK day, ya’ll), Joan of Arc*, Rumi, Jesus, Hafiz, Malala Yousafzai, Thich Nhat Hanh, Nadia Murad, Sister Chan Khong, ...the list goes on and on and on....they also have Grit with a capitol G. Perhaps Grit is a telling North Star?

So what are the forces within a person that intermingle and shape who we become? Have you ever considered that whenever you are with someone—a dearly beloved imprinted one, or the bagger at the grocery store—those 90 seconds you spend together are your opportunity to make connection—to be a bright light on the path of life, to reach out and let them know they are a treasure. When a person is met who impresses in another deep trust—that is a tremendous gift, perhaps the greatest gift one can give.

Who are the ones who open your heart? Be with them, love them deeply and reflect back their qualities of open hearted presence. Awww, it’s time for this Sappy McSappy Pants to go fall in love again, and again, and again....


* Karla’s full length ebook novel: Child of God: The Humble Beginnings of Joan of Arc