liberal or conservative?

Woke up at 6:30am, made my coffee, sat in front of my altar and chanted for 40 minutes.  Wow, this feels nice!  As I chanted, I brought back to mind who I am, where I’ve come from and what I fight for. I also dwelt a lot on my ultimate goal (something I’m not ready to reveal yet).  But then, I wandered off into subjects about people, their potential, the victim attitude, the actual victims, predatory capitalism, the suffering of the world, etc.  Although I’m not planning on joining another revolutionary army, these subjects still tug at me on a regular basis, especially when I’m in my center.

This brought me to think about the major positions people hold on these subjects.  The liberal side would say that we need to stop capitalism (the dysfunctional part) and give ‘medicine’ to the world (all the things that is needed to make it better). Conservatives say, No, people work hard for their money and those who need medicine should stand up and get it.

As for my personal experience, I was one who needed medicine and stood up to get it, so I agree with the conservative side.  But, I would have never made that stance if there wasn’t major intervention on my behalf–and this intervention took US law enforcement for the first part, and a lot of money for the second (and third and fourth) part.  So both are true. People have to fight, but they also need help. I’m aware that if the person is not ready, no matter how much medicine you dump on them, it won’t take.  But this does not let you off the hook!  You still have to give medicine to the world, and keep giving it.  Here’s why– there is no way for you to know, (and I don’t care how much life experience you have) who it is that needs medicine and who doesn’t. You can only give, and hopefully it will take.  Sometimes it will, sometimes it won’t.

Let’s say you are the person who needs medicine.  There are a whole lot of people who will walk past you wagging their heads, judging you as they walk, never stopping to ask what happened.  Out of every thousand, maybe one will have an open heart and stop to notice you.  The natural thing to happen is that because you’ve been negated for so long, you will want to suck this one person’s medicine right out of them until they’re dry, so they end up abandoning you (I have personally gone through this embarrassing process over and over again! ugh).  This natural.  Don’t judge yourself. Forgive yourself and move on. Ultimately you have to figure out that the vast amount of medicine you actually need can come from only you.  It is within you, locked up and sealed away.  Finding out how to unlock it is the ultimate adventure.  On this journey, thousands of well-intentioned people will tell you which way to go.  Your heart knows the truth.  Follow it!

So, back to conservatives. When they say, “you have the power to stand up and change your own life”, they’re right. You do.  When liberals say, “just because you’re in position of power, it doesn’t mean you should take advantage of the weak”, they’re right too. Of course.

I have one last thought.  When Jesus’ disciples asked him if they should “give alms” to the beggars even if most likely they were all frauds, Jesus’ response was that it if there is a group of (ten?) beggars, out of which 9 are frauds, it’s better to give to all ten to not miss the one honest person who actually needs help.  On the side of the one who has medicine to give, what is worse than being cheated by a fraud, is living your life with regret.

Regret bites much harder and endures much longer than any other kind of pain.  This I do know for sure.