I take Marianne's point wholeheartedly... but one of our biggest challenges is that we, as a country, disagree on what to be brave about... i am sure some people at the Capital on Jan 6th thought that moment was their call to bravery; not that I agree with them, I can just imagine they did. Having "moral courage" is so tricky when we wildly disagree on what is moral - just look at the abortion issue... As a first step to being brave, I believe many of is need to look inward and clean our own houses of our judgments, fears, biases, grief, grudges etc... otherwise when the call to be brave arrives, our actions may be misguided.
I agree the Ukrainian action is astonishing. I also know there are dynamics we cannot see or feel from here in the culture's evolving ethos. In the aggregate, Ukrainians have been through the mill for centuries. Borders have shifted, historical cultural practices prohibited, officially allowed languages changed. Many older Ukrainians that I know feel life was better during the USSR times, when everyone had free education, sponsored vacation retreats, and everyone was equally poor. Circumstances of life then nourished a depth of community we likely cannot imagine as we navigate our competitive consumerist theater.
Since '92, a clever few well-connected thieves have pillaged the country's resources. It is the same in Russia. There must be a deep rage in people who have been unbelievably taken advantage of by a privileged few. I think this rage is being tapped exactly now.
When I was in Ukraine twenty-plus years ago, people told me they understood transitioning to a new socioeconomic order would that a few generations. Most, perhaps all, of todays brave Ukrainian fighters have no direct experience of those good old days when the USSR functioned well (even though from our coddled perspective it never functioned well). These brave people are declaring and defending their right to transition and evolve into self-determined statehood. They are a huge threat to the authoritarian tilt of the self-made new Tsar next door. It is this aspiration of seld-determination which is being so violently attacked.
I too pray I will have courage to resist those who would threaten our right to our self-determination here in the USA. All too often I feel like a puppet, and I do feel the rage building as my awareness of being manipulated increases. Thank you Marianne for bringing your invitation to become more aware, to transition and transform.
That's the way it's alwas been. Our time is coming. 2023. We have to stand up to make sure there is a 2024 federal election. I am sure you understand. I'm an old fart. I swore my solemn oath in September of 1967. Are we so soft and pleasure driven that we will let Fascism walk in, just so long as it doesn't disturb our meditation? {or spill our latte}.
Our time is now! 2022. To make sure repuglitans with their rigged elections and fascism ideals are denounced by a blue tsunami. Silent majoriRepublicans. Dems independents and "old school" republicans.
Hi Carol, I am a Northern Californian with long historical roots here. I went to LA back in 1971 as one of the California Girls with Judy Chicgo. Yes, there were several of us dudes who were very supportive and helpful for many years. I am new to Marianne, but have read some very insghtful posts of hers'. Two years ago, a dear woman friend turned me on to Heather Cox Richardson, the Boston College history professor. Heathers' letters and video chats have done so much to keep me, and a few hundred thousand others, sane and functional during these insane times. If you do not follow her, do a FB search and go through her page.
Persevere and stay strong!! I have had to deal with white supremacist cristyun nut cases my whole life. Their pedofilia charismatic male leadership enclaves are all over California, since the late 19th century. Very well documented in the press and court records.
Interesting that the repug cristyun senators are using pedophilia in their opposition to the new SCOTUS nominee.
To my recollection, Putin never said, "Right now I declare war." It was the Biden Administration that bravely declared it. Of course, Putin's undeclared third world war has been raging through our networks and infrastructure for a decade or more...since the fall of the Soviet Union, in fact. Likewise, the second civil war of this country is in full simmer, if not a rolling boil. No one is going to openly declare, "Right now, it is us against you. Let's do battle." I feel it in my body, that awareness that I am allowing more and more behavior that is unacceptable, adapting to the new normal of the tolerable intolerable. I often wonder if I will one day snap to attention or will I continue to bend until I am backwards? If I did suddenly decide today is the day, what exactly would I do? As for whether I would have the courage to fight? I think so. The times when my children were threatened by an adult neighbor, or my feeble elderly dog by the neighborly bobcat, I was out there chasing off the threat before I knew what I was doing. Even if my mind has been numbed into not taking the bait when hooks of deplorable words and beliefs dangle around me, my body would know what to do! Perhaps I need to engage my hands, my canvas, my camera a bit more so that I don't become completely insensitive to evil. Insidious. Good word. Thanks Marianne, for the wake up call.
"We too have a country to save, just as all of us have a world to save. We never know at what hour any of us might be called to be more, and do more, than we have been and done before." ... Very well written ... perhaps one of your best ... Thank you for this ... and thank you for waking us up!
Maybe we don't realize how courageous we are because we aren't stopping tanks with our bodies but we are already pushing back at the indolence of our partisan elected and appointed officials by showing up, speaking out, demanding that promises be kept, caring for our earth, caring for one another and remembering that the tiniest kindness is multiplied when we least expect it. Thank you Marianne for your excellent example.
Thank you! I know I can do better and that I can find ways to be brave! I pray every day for the people of Ukraine and Russia and may we all stand up and speak for love, both here and abroad.
I think the epicenter of our own hearts — and the bravery that might dwell there, in all of us — is to be located in our focused, clear attention and in our relationships with ourselves; it also seems obvious to me, from personal experience (not to mention observation), that this place is less accessible when fractured through the prism of social media.
It's no brilliant observation to suggest that social media has had a horrific effect upon our culture, our minds, our democracy, our planet. It has not lived up to its promise; in fact, it has been much worse than we could possibly have imagined, by almost every available metric (with a few important exceptions that for-profit algorithms preclude).
My own decision not to use social media (a year or two ago, honestly can't remember) has been the most positively reinforcing health decision I think I've ever made. My cells are knitting themselves back into a coherent whole. I read long-form journalism. I complete thoughts. I miss nothing, and — despite my biggest worries — feel as up-to-date about what's going on in the world as I did when I was on there. And I also, to the point here, feel more CONNECTED to the human experience itself, including the horrific and unfathomable experience of the brave Ukrainians. I feel myself in place, which enables me to imagine what it must be like to be (at best) utterly displaced, and how that shift can turn on a dime.
I toyed with the idea of running my own political campaign entirely off of social media, just to see if it could be done and make a point about how destructive it is. But I succumbed to the pressure of my advisors and manager, who thought it couldn't or shouldn't be done. I regret that.
For a start, I think we really need a critical mass of people to really turn their backs on social media so that we can turn our hearts and minds TOWARD the work that needs to be done now to heal our selves, our communities, our country, our planet. Quietly, without fanfare, no revolution, no screaming. Just literally turn around. Maybe a middle finger, that's it. What a redemption that would be. And maybe, given the very real phenomenon of loneliness and FOMO, a taste of our own bravery.
I can only add, based on my own experiences with life threatening situations, that we never know, in advance, how we'll react. Those who believe they will be brave may be the first to flee and those believing themselves to be more frightened and incapable, may be the very ones to save us all. It's not something anyone can know in advance. Our Democracy right here in US is under attack by those with a similar mindset to Putin. This mindset is obsessed with winning and conquering at ANY cost. I sincerely hope we are all ready to take on these threats before we face the horrors happening in Ukraine.
They keep talking more 'sanctions' but I learned they are 'frozen' assets or securities and NOT seized by NATO or anyone one country. So while it puts oligarchs and companies on hold, well, the value of those assets or securities still exist so I don't see this as a 'real' deterent. This is discouraging; so it seems we are at the mercy of militarism or a miracle. Nuts!
I concur with Marianne's key question: "What in my own life would I now do, if I too had more courage?" I also agree with her notion that we be alert to preserve and improve our own plight in America too. Indeed, these are troubling times, and it's hard to deeply focus on tasks while being aware of the tremendous suffering engulfing the world both at home and abroad in many places.
Here's my macro interpretation of what's happening: We are facing a cyclical throwback regarding patriarchal domination that has been surfacing around the world--this leads mostly to destructive behavior. I regret not learning or hearing more of how the U.S. was aiding Ukraine with military supplies and training over the past seven years or so. Obviously, Putin saw this forming and it fed his anger!
So here we are, once again, facing more horrors. Our willingness to help, in part, with militaristic means has prompted something awful. And today there's a plan to have more Eastern European forces surrounding the troubled area. My concern is that we are blindly creating or helping to manifest a third world war or building an alliance-fulfilling prophecy that will expand the conflict. I find it agonizing! I am certain that all of us, who are dedicated to peaceful, loving values share my sorrow too.
Finally, I am thankful, Marianne, that you took a break from her book writing to pen some thoughts for all of us to share together during this horrific time! I think we need to muster-up the courage to bolster balance between the patriarchy and matriarchy energies or face extinction. I see no women sitting at the negotation tables between Ukraine and Russia. Thus, I think we are getting closer to collapse than not!
Lastly, kindness, reconciliation, collaboration, cooperation, reflection, and a better process to avoid these kinds of dramas is desperately needed. Above all, we must love to get out of this bifurcating nightmare. Also, I find it difficult to read and hear comments directly from Ukrainians on how they "will not forgive". Their feelings, indeed, take us to a very dark place!
ACIM Lesson 63"THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD BRINGS PEACE TO EVERY MIND THROUGH MY FORGIVENESS. " I have to love peace enough that war is impossible. What we resist persists.
Instead, we can hold our vision of a world that transforms from a base of fear to a base of love. See it in all its glory. "I see you with the eyes of love and glory in your perfection."
It stirs the raw emotions for the need to embrace the human spirit and to recognize the importance of bravery and convictions to stand up to those that feel that they are above the law. And those are the few that take and leave crumbs for many. It is time for all People, of all Nations to join in to save our Humanity...let us begin..with much LOVE...thanks for this forum Marianne, to express our thoughts
I take Marianne's point wholeheartedly... but one of our biggest challenges is that we, as a country, disagree on what to be brave about... i am sure some people at the Capital on Jan 6th thought that moment was their call to bravery; not that I agree with them, I can just imagine they did. Having "moral courage" is so tricky when we wildly disagree on what is moral - just look at the abortion issue... As a first step to being brave, I believe many of is need to look inward and clean our own houses of our judgments, fears, biases, grief, grudges etc... otherwise when the call to be brave arrives, our actions may be misguided.
I agree the Ukrainian action is astonishing. I also know there are dynamics we cannot see or feel from here in the culture's evolving ethos. In the aggregate, Ukrainians have been through the mill for centuries. Borders have shifted, historical cultural practices prohibited, officially allowed languages changed. Many older Ukrainians that I know feel life was better during the USSR times, when everyone had free education, sponsored vacation retreats, and everyone was equally poor. Circumstances of life then nourished a depth of community we likely cannot imagine as we navigate our competitive consumerist theater.
Since '92, a clever few well-connected thieves have pillaged the country's resources. It is the same in Russia. There must be a deep rage in people who have been unbelievably taken advantage of by a privileged few. I think this rage is being tapped exactly now.
When I was in Ukraine twenty-plus years ago, people told me they understood transitioning to a new socioeconomic order would that a few generations. Most, perhaps all, of todays brave Ukrainian fighters have no direct experience of those good old days when the USSR functioned well (even though from our coddled perspective it never functioned well). These brave people are declaring and defending their right to transition and evolve into self-determined statehood. They are a huge threat to the authoritarian tilt of the self-made new Tsar next door. It is this aspiration of seld-determination which is being so violently attacked.
I too pray I will have courage to resist those who would threaten our right to our self-determination here in the USA. All too often I feel like a puppet, and I do feel the rage building as my awareness of being manipulated increases. Thank you Marianne for bringing your invitation to become more aware, to transition and transform.
Thank you for this
You are an inspiration.
1992? Since Nixon, me thinks!
You ran for President. Pretty brave, I’d say.
That's the way it's alwas been. Our time is coming. 2023. We have to stand up to make sure there is a 2024 federal election. I am sure you understand. I'm an old fart. I swore my solemn oath in September of 1967. Are we so soft and pleasure driven that we will let Fascism walk in, just so long as it doesn't disturb our meditation? {or spill our latte}.
Our time is now! 2022. To make sure repuglitans with their rigged elections and fascism ideals are denounced by a blue tsunami. Silent majoriRepublicans. Dems independents and "old school" republicans.
"Blue Tsunami" inculcated by social media and mass media totally under control by the CIA.
I swore that oath in January of '67, and will always answer the call
Hi Carol, I am a Northern Californian with long historical roots here. I went to LA back in 1971 as one of the California Girls with Judy Chicgo. Yes, there were several of us dudes who were very supportive and helpful for many years. I am new to Marianne, but have read some very insghtful posts of hers'. Two years ago, a dear woman friend turned me on to Heather Cox Richardson, the Boston College history professor. Heathers' letters and video chats have done so much to keep me, and a few hundred thousand others, sane and functional during these insane times. If you do not follow her, do a FB search and go through her page.
Persevere and stay strong!! I have had to deal with white supremacist cristyun nut cases my whole life. Their pedofilia charismatic male leadership enclaves are all over California, since the late 19th century. Very well documented in the press and court records.
Interesting that the repug cristyun senators are using pedophilia in their opposition to the new SCOTUS nominee.
To my recollection, Putin never said, "Right now I declare war." It was the Biden Administration that bravely declared it. Of course, Putin's undeclared third world war has been raging through our networks and infrastructure for a decade or more...since the fall of the Soviet Union, in fact. Likewise, the second civil war of this country is in full simmer, if not a rolling boil. No one is going to openly declare, "Right now, it is us against you. Let's do battle." I feel it in my body, that awareness that I am allowing more and more behavior that is unacceptable, adapting to the new normal of the tolerable intolerable. I often wonder if I will one day snap to attention or will I continue to bend until I am backwards? If I did suddenly decide today is the day, what exactly would I do? As for whether I would have the courage to fight? I think so. The times when my children were threatened by an adult neighbor, or my feeble elderly dog by the neighborly bobcat, I was out there chasing off the threat before I knew what I was doing. Even if my mind has been numbed into not taking the bait when hooks of deplorable words and beliefs dangle around me, my body would know what to do! Perhaps I need to engage my hands, my canvas, my camera a bit more so that I don't become completely insensitive to evil. Insidious. Good word. Thanks Marianne, for the wake up call.
"We too have a country to save, just as all of us have a world to save. We never know at what hour any of us might be called to be more, and do more, than we have been and done before." ... Very well written ... perhaps one of your best ... Thank you for this ... and thank you for waking us up!
Yes! And be brave without comparison. What is brave for one may be out of reach for another. We can all do something each day.
Maybe we don't realize how courageous we are because we aren't stopping tanks with our bodies but we are already pushing back at the indolence of our partisan elected and appointed officials by showing up, speaking out, demanding that promises be kept, caring for our earth, caring for one another and remembering that the tiniest kindness is multiplied when we least expect it. Thank you Marianne for your excellent example.
Thank you! I know I can do better and that I can find ways to be brave! I pray every day for the people of Ukraine and Russia and may we all stand up and speak for love, both here and abroad.
I think the epicenter of our own hearts — and the bravery that might dwell there, in all of us — is to be located in our focused, clear attention and in our relationships with ourselves; it also seems obvious to me, from personal experience (not to mention observation), that this place is less accessible when fractured through the prism of social media.
It's no brilliant observation to suggest that social media has had a horrific effect upon our culture, our minds, our democracy, our planet. It has not lived up to its promise; in fact, it has been much worse than we could possibly have imagined, by almost every available metric (with a few important exceptions that for-profit algorithms preclude).
My own decision not to use social media (a year or two ago, honestly can't remember) has been the most positively reinforcing health decision I think I've ever made. My cells are knitting themselves back into a coherent whole. I read long-form journalism. I complete thoughts. I miss nothing, and — despite my biggest worries — feel as up-to-date about what's going on in the world as I did when I was on there. And I also, to the point here, feel more CONNECTED to the human experience itself, including the horrific and unfathomable experience of the brave Ukrainians. I feel myself in place, which enables me to imagine what it must be like to be (at best) utterly displaced, and how that shift can turn on a dime.
I toyed with the idea of running my own political campaign entirely off of social media, just to see if it could be done and make a point about how destructive it is. But I succumbed to the pressure of my advisors and manager, who thought it couldn't or shouldn't be done. I regret that.
For a start, I think we really need a critical mass of people to really turn their backs on social media so that we can turn our hearts and minds TOWARD the work that needs to be done now to heal our selves, our communities, our country, our planet. Quietly, without fanfare, no revolution, no screaming. Just literally turn around. Maybe a middle finger, that's it. What a redemption that would be. And maybe, given the very real phenomenon of loneliness and FOMO, a taste of our own bravery.
I can only add, based on my own experiences with life threatening situations, that we never know, in advance, how we'll react. Those who believe they will be brave may be the first to flee and those believing themselves to be more frightened and incapable, may be the very ones to save us all. It's not something anyone can know in advance. Our Democracy right here in US is under attack by those with a similar mindset to Putin. This mindset is obsessed with winning and conquering at ANY cost. I sincerely hope we are all ready to take on these threats before we face the horrors happening in Ukraine.
Well said. We never know when we will be called.
We were called to be the 99%, by the Occupy movement.
💛💙🙏💙💛 prayers for our leaders in Brussels to have the courage it will take to stand up to this aggression.
They keep talking more 'sanctions' but I learned they are 'frozen' assets or securities and NOT seized by NATO or anyone one country. So while it puts oligarchs and companies on hold, well, the value of those assets or securities still exist so I don't see this as a 'real' deterent. This is discouraging; so it seems we are at the mercy of militarism or a miracle. Nuts!
I concur with Marianne's key question: "What in my own life would I now do, if I too had more courage?" I also agree with her notion that we be alert to preserve and improve our own plight in America too. Indeed, these are troubling times, and it's hard to deeply focus on tasks while being aware of the tremendous suffering engulfing the world both at home and abroad in many places.
Here's my macro interpretation of what's happening: We are facing a cyclical throwback regarding patriarchal domination that has been surfacing around the world--this leads mostly to destructive behavior. I regret not learning or hearing more of how the U.S. was aiding Ukraine with military supplies and training over the past seven years or so. Obviously, Putin saw this forming and it fed his anger!
So here we are, once again, facing more horrors. Our willingness to help, in part, with militaristic means has prompted something awful. And today there's a plan to have more Eastern European forces surrounding the troubled area. My concern is that we are blindly creating or helping to manifest a third world war or building an alliance-fulfilling prophecy that will expand the conflict. I find it agonizing! I am certain that all of us, who are dedicated to peaceful, loving values share my sorrow too.
Finally, I am thankful, Marianne, that you took a break from her book writing to pen some thoughts for all of us to share together during this horrific time! I think we need to muster-up the courage to bolster balance between the patriarchy and matriarchy energies or face extinction. I see no women sitting at the negotation tables between Ukraine and Russia. Thus, I think we are getting closer to collapse than not!
Lastly, kindness, reconciliation, collaboration, cooperation, reflection, and a better process to avoid these kinds of dramas is desperately needed. Above all, we must love to get out of this bifurcating nightmare. Also, I find it difficult to read and hear comments directly from Ukrainians on how they "will not forgive". Their feelings, indeed, take us to a very dark place!
Wishing you all love and peace!
ACIM Lesson 63"THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD BRINGS PEACE TO EVERY MIND THROUGH MY FORGIVENESS. " I have to love peace enough that war is impossible. What we resist persists.
Instead, we can hold our vision of a world that transforms from a base of fear to a base of love. See it in all its glory. "I see you with the eyes of love and glory in your perfection."
It stirs the raw emotions for the need to embrace the human spirit and to recognize the importance of bravery and convictions to stand up to those that feel that they are above the law. And those are the few that take and leave crumbs for many. It is time for all People, of all Nations to join in to save our Humanity...let us begin..with much LOVE...thanks for this forum Marianne, to express our thoughts