From The Inside Out, A Genuine Path To A Positive Future

Last updated on: November 11, 2013 at 11:06 am by George Cappannelli

From The Inside Out, A Genuine Path To A Positive Future 2013-11-11T11:06:59-08:00 George Cappannelli

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We are at a challenging, some say critical time in our history. There is a battle currently underway between the left and the right to determine whose philosophy will shape the next chapter in American History and this battle is heating up dramatically. Some suggest that what is at stake is democracy itself and a way of life that the majority of our citizens and the world at large has used as a beacon of hope and a reminder of what is possible when human freedom, ingenuity, passion and compassion come together for more than two hundred years.

As this battle rages on and continues to impact more and more of us – especially those of us who the world calls older GenXers, Boomers and Elders – there are those who are calling for us to go out into the streets to demonstrate our solidarity behind those who are trying to protect our rights and prevent the few from solidifying their control over the many.

From our perspective there is a great deal of truth in these concerns about the well-being of our democracy and our way of life that has – until recently – provided extraordinary opportunities to people of all races, creeds, colors and ages to pursue their dreams while also providing sufficient support and protection for those who are less fortunate, particularly the young, the disadvantaged and the elderly.

So we agree that it is time we raise our collective voices and actively move to protect our right to determine our future. If not there is a very good chance that our future will be decided for us by people who appear, at least from our perspective, to have lost their moral and ethical compass; people who want to reshape this once great nation into a kind of private protectorate in which they can exercise their own biases, enforce their rigid beliefs and continue to accumulate more and more political power and a larger and more disproportionate share of the financial wealth. Not a pretty picture, is it?

However, it is also very clear to us that if we want this noble experiment in human consciousness called democracy to continue, we would be wise to first turn inward and listen to the wisdom that issues from our hearts and speaks to us in the language of greater consciousness. Let us remember that life is first and foremost an inside-out job and that before taking action our primary responsibility is to identify and heal those places within ourselves that may be bounded by limited beliefs and entrapped in habituated behaviors. In short, let us remember that the road to collective sanity and stability, to joy and genuine satisfaction must pass directly through a focus on our individual physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health.

So before we march let us have the courage to explore those places inside us where prejudice may be hiding and where fear of the other and the unknown may be present. Let us heal the emotional wounds that may be standing in the way of our expressing our compassion, empathy and our love for each other and for ourselves. And, above all, let us remember that each and every one of us who is part of this thing called humanity are in this together and that if we want to be successful we will take our lead from that old African Proverb that reminds us – “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

This path may take a little more time and provide those who are intent on subverting the will of our founders a little more opportunity to try to perpetrate their fraud, but in the end, we believe we will be successful. For as the Poet Rumi once said, “Everything is about loving and not loving.” And so in this age old struggle between the common good and the greed of the few, we believe the only way for us to triumph is to become the best and clearest instruments we can be so that the best and highest music of the universe can play through us.

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