Love Your Neighbor

The Potlatch Song

(Rap to a slow groove)

©2003 saharadevi

When I'm walkin' in the heat

and a cloud rolls by

I say "thank you"

I say "thank you"

And if I want something to eat

and there's money in my pocket

I say "thank you"

I say "thank you"

This world is like a movie

and we're each assigned a role

sometimes we're Cinderella

sometimes we're Old King Cole

We need to realize

that it's a roll of the dice

sometimes we get Beluga

sometimes it's beans and rice

But what we do with what we've got

is what reveals our nature—

are we kind and generous

or nasty and voracious?

To be livin' the good life

is not eating 'til you puke

stop yappin' on that cell phone

can't you see that you've been duped?

The American Dream

has turned into a nightmare—

humanity is in a trance

and no one is aware

*****

When I'm out on the street

and there's someone there who cares

I say "thank you"

I say "thank you"

And when I need a place to sleep

and I have a bed to lie on

I say "thank you"

I say "thank you"

This world is like a movie

and we're each assigned a part

sometimes we get the horse

sometimes we get the cart

We have to understand

that there's something far greater

than crystal chandeliers

and shoes of alligator

What we do with what we have

will show us who we are

will we educate a child

or buy another car?

To be livin' the good life

is not eating 'til you puke

Mother Nature's in revolt

and we're being rebuked

The American Dream

has turned into a nightmare

we're like rats on a treadmill:

moving quickly—going nowhere

We've been brainwashed to believe

too much is not enough

we're consumed by our consumption

we are drowning in our 'stuff'

So open up your eyes

and open up your Heart

let the Love flow to your brother

it's time we made a start

We're the children of One Mother

Love your neighbor as your Self

what we give to each other

is our only true Wealth

Listen: http://www.saharadevi.com/home/Evolution-Revolution-love-your-neighbor-2

Just ONE Degree

If a navigational heading is shifted by only one degree, and you leave New York City heading for Los Angeles, with a one-degree deviation you can end up in Oregon.

What if American society had a one-degree shift in Consciousness? What if a critical number of us not only realized but acted upon the understanding that all Life is interrelated, and that any harm done to any portion is harm done to the whole? Does anyone recall, "Whatsoever ye do to the least of these ye do to Me?"

By decimating forests and rain forests all over the world we are profoundly impacting the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. It's as if, as one pundit put it, "We are cutting the very branch on which we are sitting." How can we imagine this is good for us? It seems like mighty questionable behavior for a society that holds itself in such high regard: that considers itself 'intelligent' 'advanced' and 'civilized.'

Exactly how intelligent is it to pollute land, sea, and air—which results in pollution of organisms at every level of the food chain, which results in disease and illness so prevalent as to be endemic, which results in the consumption of substances that may ameliorate the symptoms but might also produce a kitchen sink of side-effects that further undermine health?

Any 'intelligent' being would consider this self-poisoning to be suicidal and even insane—so who exactly considers this an 'intelligent' thing to do? The people who are suffering from these diseases and cannot afford treatment? Unfortunately these folks have been blinded by the powers-that-be and the media with the illusion that what is being done is meant to provide them with comfort and convenience: the 'good life'—and further deluded into believing that 'the good life' means consume until you puke— both literally and figuratively—resulting in a society sated to a stupor and drugged to oblivion—in a literal trance.

No. Those who consider it okay to deliberately pollute and ravage our entire ecosystem are simply those who profit the most, motivated entirely by an overweening and overwhelming greed: short term profit with no consideration of the long term loss.

But the rest of us are responsible because we allow it to happen, either through laziness, ignorance or myopia.

What is needed is for We the People to make a one-degree shift in Consciousness. A shift from 'my' to 'our'—a shift from short-term profit to long-term stewardship. A shift that recognizes we have become a global village and that our family is now the Family of Man. Not only because we are only a plane ride away from being infected by some new mutated virus, but because we recognize that (to paraphrase the Buddha) "when a butterfly flaps its wings in China, the effect is felt around the world."

Consider this: if every family treated their property in the same way we are allowing the planet to be treated, we'd be living in a sewer.

And this: if working class America had to live in the conditions prevalent for millions around the world who are treated like slave laborers so we can buy cheap goods—most of it unnecessary junk that turns into clutter all over the house and fills our closets, attics and garages to overflowing—there would be rioting in the streets.

And this: enough money has been spent every year for decades to clothe and accessorize Barbie to feed a third-world country: is this what we call intelligent?

With only one degree of expanded Consciousness we could change the world. If we shifted from 'How to Look Good Naked' to 'The Big Give' it would be a good start.

Post-religious Americana

Perhaps in the same way that President-elect Obama is intending to create a post-partisan government, it would be appropriate for We the People to create a national post-religious atmosphere of true spirituality: a spirituality that unites rather than divides. After all, at the heart of most religious concept is the same Universal theme: “Do unto another as you would be done to.”

Belief is a personal and private thing, not to be imposed on another, especially not imposed by a government on its population. On this understanding was our country founded. We can observe, both here and abroad, that the desire to impose one’s own belief on others, or that which espouses ‘our way’ as the best or only way, brings naught but suffering.

Essential human goodness is not exclusive to any group, but may be found all over the world, in every race and nationality, amongst believers of many sorts and non-believers alike.

So what if, rather than attempting to make others believe as we do, we simply accept that diversity is as natural a phenomenon in human existence as it is in Nature and begin to choose Harmony above all? After all, most humans want the same basic things: hearth & home, warmth & food, a decent education and opportunity for their children, and good health.

Perhaps in this era of change, we can finally put aside that which divides and focus on that which unites. If We the People universally embrace compassion, kindness, harmony, philadelphia, and selfless service, it would go a long way toward creating Peace in our hearts and minds, and in our world.

Evolution Revolution Redux

See original post and Evolution Revolution: RAP May 2007

Give Thanks

Give thanks for the moment of waking
Give thanks for sleeping, too
Give thanks for every breath you take
Each one is given to you

Give thanks for each morsel of bread you eat
Give thanks for every fruit
There are those all around who have not these things
Give thanks they’ve been given to you

Give thanks for water, hot and cold
Give thanks for a dry place to sleep
Give thanks indeed for the clothes on your back
Give thanks for the shoes on your feet

Give thanks for those things of everyday Life
Those things we consider our due
And if you have nothing, give thanks for that
You have nothing to burden you

Give thanks for understanding
for Love and Compassion, too
and if you can’t feel it, look in your Heart
it’s right there inside of you

Give thanks for every Blessing
Life is a Blessing for you

Give thanks for every moment of Life
it’s a Gift given to you

Life is a Gift in every way
give thanks it’s been
given to you

Sometimes God Raps: I Be The Love

I be the Love
I be the Light
I be the darkness in the night

I be the fruit/on every tree
I be the sky, the earth, the sea

I be the stars up/in the skies
I be in front of you -
no disguise

I be the groovin’/to the/beat
I be the sistuh/on the/street

I be the flea/on every dog
I be the sunshine, the rain and the fog

I be the down-out
I be the up-tall
I be the summuh, the wintuh, the fall

I be the birdies/in the/tree
there be the birdies, the tree
and Me

I be the scorpion / on the ground
I be the eagle soarin’ ’round

I be the ant, I be the bee
I be in everything you see

I be the Love
I be the Light
I be the Fire/ burnin’ /bright
in the darkness/of the/night

Who Cares? Compassion in the 21st Century

In 1994 I was struck homeless in the same way Ramdass/Richard Alpert considers he was ‘stroked’ – by an intangible force. One day I was relocating from a northern state to a more desirable clime, a week later I was sleeping in my car, realizing my life would never be the same.

Nothing and everything in the previous forty-seven years of my existence had prepared me for the experience that ensued. And while I recognized the spiritual aspect of what was happening, that knowledge didn’t ameliorate the consequences, and I often wondered what I had done to deserve such a fate. My experience since then has demonstrated quite clearly that we do not have the control we think we have over our destiny, and begs the question “What is it that actually moves us through this life?”

The query often posed by well-meaning acquaintances, “Why don’t you just get a job?” could not be answered. I worked whenever possible, as a photographer, freelance writing for a local newspaper, in the shop of a newly acquired friend when she needed help; and at the same time I knew that this situation was not about ‘getting a job’ - it was both a testing and an education: quite an extraordinary education in acceptance, non-judgment, trust and compassion – a curriculum unfortunately not available in our institutions of academe.

I learned, for instance, that however much there was, there was always enough to share – that the amount of food I thought I needed to satisfy my own hunger, when divided to provide sustenance for another, was somehow able to satisfy the hunger of both. Perhaps the act of sharing magically intensified the qualitative value of the food, or perhaps by sharing we precipitate love. Lovers, as everyone knows, can live on air…

The friendships I made supported me and the kindness of strangers sustained me. I was particularly blown away by the deli manager in a supermarket who, when I’d have only thirty-two cents or some equally paltry amount to my name and request that amount of a particular foodstuff, would then give me a huge portion of that item and proceed to ring up whatever the amount I had mentioned. And I will never forget one fellow in a similar boat to mine who, when once I asked if he could spare a couple of dollars for lunch, took out and looked at the five singles his wallet contained and proceeded to give me three of them.

If we understand that humans are not only expressions of but conduits for the Divine, we understand that although fear might attempt to tell us otherwise, we are not limited by what we either possess or lack. The practice of tithing by those of faith has shown that increase is precipitated by giving a portion of one’s income with compassion in the same way a tree produces more branches when pruned, or a bush more flowers when they are picked.

So if you consider yourself among the evolutionally advanced, walk the talk. ‘Think globally, act locally’ is not just a catchy phrase.

Be an open channel for the energy of compassion to flow though you – on its way it will enhance the Love in your heart and create moments of wonder and awe at events which arise.

Be non-judgmental. If we take the position that need exists in some to awaken compassion in others and open our hearts, we will be the ones who benefit the most. Trust me on this – I am speaking from experience:

For the past thirteen years of ‘homelessness’ I have been the witness to, recipient of and instrument in acts of wonder and mystery that defy explanation. Over and over and over the trust I was drilled in proved itself profoundly, with the situations occurring and bounty extended ofttimes overwhelming in their breadth and depth of wonder-fullness.

And while I don’t expect anyone else to willingly embrace the deprivation and suffering I have endured on my own journey - not a position one may volunteer for at any rate - I can honestly say that I don’t regret a moment and have been transformed in ways both simple and profound.

The fact is, whether our lives are a series of cause and effect events or simply a storyline we meander through, the outcome is the same. And whether we are able to manipulate or cajole others to achieve our ends is always a crapshoot. The upshot being: when we lie on our deathbeds what will have been our greatest achievement – the things we have accumulated or the hearts we have touched?

One road leaves us tragically empty, the other filled in an incomparable way. I know the acts of kindness shown me have been light years more meaningful than all the expensive stuff I’ve acquired that has slipped through my fingers like grains of sand.

If we are not evolving into a civilization that understands and meets the needs of all its members as any enlightened family does, we are degenerating into a civilization that is self-righteous and (albeit apparently successful) self-destructive, and will ultimately render itself extinct. Who cares?

Watch 'Love Your Neighbor': http://www.saharadevi.com/home/Evolution-Revolution-love-your-neighbor-2