Abortion Isn’t Really About Abortion-Part 2
Abortion is a collection of some of the most difficult issues related to human growth and development. —Life Choices How do you thread your way through the political and emotional minefield that is the current abortion conversation? Threats to women’s health and safety are uppermost in the minds of feminists and others worldwide, as the patriarchy in the form of male controlled governments and fundamentalist churches grinds on in its effort to limit and control women’s lives and turn back the clock of emerging feminine empowerment. It’s understandable that when the subject of abortion comes up one would want to go right to personal experience or right to the political fights. My experience as the author of a book about abortion is just that. Most people engage me in conversation about their unresolved feelings about their own abortion(s), or about their fear that abortion will become illegal again. It’s easy to be pulled into the conversation on those levels, and while they are important, there is more, much more, to be understood about abortion. The impact of the issue is deep and global and deserving of attention for its role in forging a new consciousness about humanity’s relationship with the Earth. Conscious caring is a phrase I use in Life Choices. It refers to the awareness of self and of life that comes when a woman comes to terms with her intrinsic power to decide whether a particular pregnancy will produce a new human or whether she needs to turn that pregnancy back to the Earth. It is her place in nature to decide this, and her spiritual responsibility to engage in this way. Most women know this. They know it in their bones, and proceed with their pregnancy choices in spite of whatever barriers they may encounter in their personal predicaments or societal environments. The suffering they experience comes mostly from the opposition and disrespect they encounter along the way. The stigmatizing of the choice of abortion produces shame that although unnecessary given the truth of the matter, manages to wound many women during their lives. The normal grief some women feel about choosing to turn back a pregnancy is distorted by the need to hide from the shaming. The same is true when a woman feels no grief at all, or some combination of grief and relief. Some professionals who think they are helping women with abortion frame the woman’s experience as one of victimization. This is incorrect. We are not victims of our own experience. Any experience. Even one where we might have actually been victimized! All experiences, including abortion, are with us to show us about life and about how to live freely and well. As our lives progress, we come upon exactly the right combination of circumstances and experiences to open us to what is true. Sometimes we learn the lessons right away. Sometimes it takes an entire lifetime to see clearly. Sometimes we are left baffled by the way our lives have unfolded, but that doesn’t change the basic dynamics. Conscious Caring is also descriptive of the emerging consciousness moving to the center of understanding the relationship of humans to our mother, the Earth. This growing awareness, often seen in relationship to “climate change” and environmental degradation, is a spiritually organic part of the Truth (Greater Consciousness) of Being. The role of women is often overlooked because after all, we still live in a male controlled and male dominated world. Nothing against the male of the species mind you. Men suffer terribly in the patriarchy, but that is not the subject of this essay. My goal is...
Read MoreWriting for My Life
I’ve decided to be kinder to myself when I feel sad I’ve decided to be grateful for all I ever had… This morning I woke up in a foul mood. It wasn’t unfamiliar, nor was it strange. It was all too common, and it demanded my attention. I stepped out of bed and into an abyss of negativity. Oh no, not this, my poor mind sighed. Here we go again. Time to sit down with pen and paper and transfer the inner waves into words. I didn’t want to sacrifice the day to feeling bad. Okay, yes, here we go. Light candles in front of photos, one of my beloved David, the other of the great guru Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi. Curl into the cushioned armchair that readily holds me at times like this. Big breath in; drop into full body presence, the relaxation necessary to allow information to rise and release into cognition. Hands come together in prayer pose; involuntarily, thank God. I am so in need of spiritual spontaneity when I feel this way. Letters begin to form on the page, gliding into place from the movement of thought and feeling. Apparently, an old pattern of nastyness towards the self has emerged from its den to make an appearance. It’s the one where I characterize myself as inferior to anyone who has accomplished something good creatively. Other writers, singers, creators of any kind. All are better than me. Their success is my failure. I will never be as good as they are, never enough, no matter what I do or how I am. Instant recognition. This is gnarly and unattractive to say the least, dangerous at worst. A blueprint for creative inertia. Mild alarm that it has shown up again, and along with that, more clarity that it is vital to sit with it. I let myself record every small-minded thought or idea that comes. I write and write. Finally, I’m done with the mean-spiritedness. No more nasty words or embarrassing revelations. I’ve purged it all onto the page. I’m feeling calmer and kinder towards myself. A sweetness makes its appearance. I breathe it in, eyes closed, tilting my face towards the ceiling and through it to the sky. Everything seems gentler. I can be with all that arises, and let all be as it is, at least for now. If you’ve not used personal writing to support you during difficult periods, I highly recommend it. Whether you are facing something frightening or trying to understand something about your life, writing provides a powerful entry into the truth of being. It puts you in the moment, which allows the next moment to unfold with more ease. It can make a huge difference in your life. The quote at the top is from the song Kinder by Copper...
Read MoreHumanity’s Dream of Peace Depends Upon the Liberation and Advancement of Women
We must bring our human intelligence and compassionate judgment to bear on the nature and quality of Life on Earth. The planet needs our loving attention. All the technology in the world will not release us from our fundamental responsibility to be in right relationship with the world, with all living beings, and especially with each other. — Life Choices, p.158 HUMANITY’S DREAM OF PEACE DEPENDS UPON THE LIBERATION AND ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN. Seems obvious, but all over the world women (and men) are dying at the hands of men and governments controlled by men. And, the environment, our living breathing Earth, our precious habitat and the habitat of all the other plant and animal species, continues to be threatened and pillaged as though it doesn’t matter. HUMANITY’S DREAM OF PEACE DEPENDS UPON THE LIBERATION AND ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN. The liberation and advancement of women brings with it a nourishing and a nurturing, a caring consciousness for both women and men. This consciousness is more cooperative than competitive, and more relational than individualistic. It is more respectful and holistic. These are values and ways of living that benefit all equally. It’s not a matter of women or men; it’s about women and men. This has been said many times by the feminist movement over the years, but it bears repeating. The movement for women’s liberation and advancement is about everyone, all of us; not you or me, but us. HUMANITY’S DREAM OF PEACE DEPENDS UPON THE LIBERATION AND ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN. The coming of human equality is a force of nature. It is about the Earth as a whole. It is Earth righting itself, upgrading its consciousness to reflect its needs. The new consciousness that is being birthed is one that reveals choice making as a natural element in the flow of life. The legitimizing of pregnancy choice making in the fabric of society points us towards recognizing the place of women in that flow. When you understand abortion, especially legal abortion in this context, and you keep women in the center of the pregnancy picture, you begin to see that we have to change our thinking about how we view life as a whole. Our species needs to wake up and make the necessary shifts towards sustaining the good of the whole. Recognizing and respecting the power and legitimacy of women to make decisions about when and whether to bring life through their bodies is central to the unfolding of the new consciousness and to peace on Earth. January 22 marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the legalization of abortion throughout the United States. Click here for information about the celebration in Denver. Click here to read a recent article by Charlotte Taft. Lastly, I want to note the passing of a great feminist historian, Gerda Lerner, whose work formed the basis for my understanding of women’s history. MAY OUR HEARTS OPEN TO ALL OF EXISTENCE. MAY WE LEARN TO LIVE AS ONE BODY. MAY WE LEARN TO LOVE AS ONE BEING. ...
Read MoreRoom to Breathe – Winter Solstice 2012 – Conscious Caring
There is a new consciousness birthing itself on the planet—an awareness that supports conscious living, which means conscious choice-making. — Life Choices home page I feel like I have more room to breathe now that President Obama has been re-elected. While not the perfect progressive by any means, Obama is a fascinating figure. It’s not an accident that he has appeared at this time of history. He supports women’s health and empowerment, workers’ rights, and the health of the earth as a whole. Those issues are key to the advancement of world peace and the well-being of all. Obama’s presence on the world stage is a bridge to better possibilities, even though his actions don’t reflect that a hundred percent of the time. Historical consciousness has a way of twisting and turning through mazes of paradox and contradiction before showing itself on a clear path. It’s an evolutionary thing, good overall but often tough in the short run. Conditions will likely get worse before they get better, but we as a world are moving in the direction of a growing awareness that supports conscious living. We don’t have much choice in the matter. The Earth is moving us towards investing in our own humanity. There is a lot going on. You can feel it on both a personal and planetary level. I’m aware of a deluge of developments in people’s lives in both my close circle of friends, family, and acquaintances, and in the larger world around the globe. Lots of serious stuff. People are having to step up. I’m grateful the election period is over. The immediacy of electoral power politics consumes my attention in a way that pushes deeper, more long term issues aside. It sucks the air out of the room. It taints my perspective, feeds on fear, and makes it hard to remember the higher purpose that motivates my work. I have now settled back into my primary focus, which is to nurture people to open to the unity of being, the truth of existence—the Oneness, and to address their personal issues in a universal context. The trick is to stay connected to universal truths while at the same time applying ourselves to improving the quality of daily life, finding the balance between staying true to existence and meeting the incessant spontaneity of events. ~~~~~~~ The Winter Solstice is almost upon us. There is excitement in some quarters about this year’s solstice. They say December 21, 2012 is significant in the Mayan calendar. I don’t know a lot about this, but I do find it interesting. The doomsday prophecies making the rounds make no sense at all to me, but the idea that the world is moving in a profoundly transformative direction does. In an online article last year, a Mayan elder named Carlos Barrios is quoted as follows: Anthropologists visit the temple sites and read the inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It’s just their imagination. Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed. We are no longer in the World of the Fourth Sun, but we are not yet in the World of the Fifth Sun. This is the time in-between, the time of transition. As we pass through transition there is a colossal, global convergence of environmental destruction, social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth Changes. Humanity will continue, but in a different way. Material structures will change. From this we will have...
Read MorePrayer for the Election-Obama is a Bridge to a Better Time
Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. —Leonard Cohen, Anthem May we find the right road as a nation; it’s a tense time. Yet, the sun still rises and the earth still turns. All is in place and moving in the heavens. Life below churns on. We confront our suffering and search for what is possible. We look within to find solace, strength, and truth of being. Love prevails no matter what twists and turns it takes. We reach for the honest way. May we find the right road as a nation. May we find the right road as a nation. May we find the right road as a nation. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Obama is a bridge to a better time....
Read MoreHonoring The Work of the Goddesses
There is a new play in the world. It’s by poet Annie Finch and is called Among The Goddesses. Annie was kind enough to send it to me to network about our common cause of bringing abortion healing into its legitimate place in life. What a beautiful work of art! It’s on a par with 4000 Years for Choice, Heather Ault’s exquisite art project. I highly recommend you get a copy and see for yourself. The play is built around an epic poem about the archetypical influences in women’s lives. More than anything it’s a journey of personal healing and transformation. Woven through it is the well known goddess chant—Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali… Inanna. A couple of weeks ago, I facilitated a discussion for staff from the four states (Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, and New Mexico) of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (PPRM) at their annual regional conference in Denver. There were 24 abortion clinic managers, assistant managers, trainers, and regional managers in the room. The topic (happily for me) was “Honoring The Work We Do In Abortion Services.” I divided the session between talking about the central issues in Life Choices, and working with the thoughts and feelings of the people there about the importance of their work and how they feel about it, themselves, and each other. These are some of the women and men doing the work of the goddesses. They are the ones bringing the wisdom of the feminine—the Divine Feminine— into practice in daily life because they honor the many-sided, complex life and death issues women have to face when they make decisions about reproduction. They take care of women and their families during times of uncertainty. They help women with their doubt, fear, and isolation when they need the help the most. Most of all, they shepherd women into taking full responsibility for their power in life and thus help them to step fully into themselves. Some of these professionals are angry, and rightly so. It’s hard enough to provide good health care services in the current political climate, but on top of the normal challenges of health care they are attacked and vilified on a daily basis. PPRM in Denver is housed in a large, modern, classy looking building that combines their surgical clinic and the administrative offices for the whole region. But you can’t see the building from the street. It is like a fortress, with eight foot high fences surrounding the building at the sidewalk line. Huge black tarps envelope and reinforce the metal barrier so that you can’t see in until you are in front of the double iron gate at the entrance to their spacious parking lot. They are harassed every day and have been for many years by people over-exercising their free speech rights who scream at patients and staff and brandish bloody pictures. Which brings me back to the goddesses. It’s easier to understand the swirl around abortion and why it gives rise to such extraordinary passion if we embrace the divine wisdom realms of insight, power, and love. These realms give us access to a depth of comprehension and courage that crosses the centuries. It allows us to keep on keeping on, through thick and thin, and when all seems lost. The empowerment of women and the feminine is a function of human and planetary evolution. The evolution is a natural movement of universal forces. The rising of the women is everywhere. It shows up in myriad sectors of society—political, religious, and personal, as well as educational, environmental, and social. But the patriarchy is not...
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