Why I Wrote Life Choices
I wrote Life Choices: The Teachings of Abortion to support the next evolutionary step towards a global consciousness of love and peace. I wanted to bring the conversation to a broader, deeper, spirit centered perspective about the impact of legal abortion. I wanted to show how abortion is helping to bring in a collective consciousness centered in love and caring. But not love and caring in the abstract. Love and caring in the context of life and relationships and the life and future of the planet. Love and caring in the context of the lives of real people.
I wrote the book to bring abortion out of the shadows where patriarchy has kept it for centuries. I wrote it to help women know that their personal experiences happen in a historical context and that they are not alone.
I wrote the book to reclaim the word life. Because, there is no such thing as abstract life. Any life form on our planet exists only in relation to other life forms, and in an intimate relationship with death. Life must be nurtured, and the health and wellbeing of the nurturer given the highest priority whether that is an individual woman or the earth as a whole. Nurturing the nurturer naturally includes recognizing her power to choose how and when she goes about doing the nurturing.
Without question, abortion is liberating and empowering for women. I wrote the book to illustrate this by including the stories of women I’ve known who have lived out the complicated pressures of deciding whether to bring life through their bodies at a particular time. I wrote it to normalize the experiences of unexpected and unwanted pregnancies, and to show that these pregnancies are for the most part unexceptional and common in women’s lives. I wrote it to show how brave and creative women are when faced with the judgments of a hostile world.
Anything that liberates women also liberates children and men. That’s also in the book.
Life on earth is part of the oneness of all beings and things. There is a Greater Consciousness of Being that is always present in our lives. Awareness of this is accessed in new and surprising ways by some women and men in their quest for healing around their abortion experiences. I wrote about that also.
I wrote Life Choices to show that the survival of humanity on the earth requires legal abortion.
- That pregnancy choice is tied to the movement for environmental stewardship and the care of the earth.
- That it is tied to economic equality and the movement from a property-over-people society towards a way of life centered in people and their intrinsic creativity.
- That it is part of the historic return of the powerful, non-patriarchal feminine principle that seats itself in a fierce guardianship of life and death.
Is there room for a deeper perspective? I hope so. Abortion is still legal in the U.S., but in some places impossible to obtain because providers have been driven out of business! This is outrageous and very scary, and I would imagine many people feel like we’re going backwards. I don’t think so though. Yes, it’s pretty intense out there, and occasionally morbidly absurd. However, we’re managing the daily insults and threats that rain down like sharp icy particles. The provider leadership knows how to navigate the territory and is doing a great job. There is a lot to learn and a lot to teach.
The political struggle is an aspect of the teachings of abortion. It is one of the avenues through which people sit up and pay attention to the importance of respecting and protecting the lives of women. It’s an incredible challenge, but in the end as with all big social movements, I believe peace and progress will prevail. We just need to stay as open, focused, and connected as we want everyone else to be. The political part is also in the book.
****************************************
I’d love to hear from you. Please comment on this post if you are so inclined, and/or contact me through the book’s website or my counseling website.
I have an offer I hope you can’t refuse. Life Choices is now available directly from me for $5 a copy plus shipping. You need to contact me directly to get the low discounted price. It’s also available as an e-book on Amazon.
Happy New Year and Thank You!
***
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
*****
***
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS SINCE
LIFE CHOICES WAS PUBLISHED.
***
I HOPE THE BOOK IS A HELP AND AN INSPIRATION TO YOU AND OTHERS YOU KNOW.
*****
MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON THIS EARTH
MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON THIS EARTH
MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON THIS EARTH
***
MANY BLESSINGS AND LOVE
LINDA
Moving Forward Into the New (and Trusting)
The longer I live, the more I learn the beauty of each being’s way of navigating life’s changes and the spiritual openings that come to magnify and deepen each life.
How are you doing with the choices and changes life is bringing to you? Isn’t it amazing how caught up we are in the continuous movement of the Forces? For many of us here in Colorado, it’s been all about the Great Flood of 2013. We’re still recovering from the powerful waters that moved through our area in the form of the thousand year rains and the 100 year flood. For a while it was hard to think about anything else.
But life reasserts itself and moves on regardless of shocking events and traumas. It doesn’t allow us to stay any one place very long, but rather, commands us to continue on, receive healing, and apply the lessons we are learning from our experience. Life asks us to trust even when we feel like everything is going wrong. I wrote a guest blog post about this recently. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here. The essay is also on my counseling website here.
The underlying theme of my book, Life Choices, is the importance of exploring and understanding how life on Earth really works. Choices made by women and men about sex and pregnancy are part of that, but the overarching teaching of abortion and its related issues is the way life is in relationship with itself through birth, death, and everything in between, and how individual conscious awareness comes into being through experience.
I can’t think of anything more important than learning how to trust. It’s almost impossible to navigate the twists and turns of our lives if we don’t. Trust often grows from surviving challenging experiences. Our experiences are tailor made to allow us to become more conscious and aware on all levels. As we open to what our experiences have to teach us we become more trusting. I’m speaking of deep trust here, the kind of trust we have in the changing of the seasons and the rising of the sun.
Moving forward into the new, I have created a workshop called Trust the Sacred-Trust Yourself. It will debut on Saturday, December 7 in Boulder at Holo Being, LLC as a HoloLive! production. You can find more information here. You can sign up here. I am excited about this new form because it brings together the teachings that I share with private clients and out on the land during the annual vision quest trip. Learning to trust the way of things gives us a key to connection with ourselves, with each other, with earth, with sky, and with the divine.
Gratitude Then and Now for the People and the Teachings
I want to share with you my gratitude for some wonderful people and their work in the world. Here is a piece of writing that is both playful and serious thanking NASA (yes, that NASA) for using the word abort correctly. Accolades to Peg Johnston for this and other articles and for her ongoing steadiness in advocating for the health rights and empowerment of women. I’ve received tremendous support from Peg for the message I’m bringing through in Life Choices. She is someone who knows how to welcome everyone into the circle of care. Thank you, Peg!
Charlotte Taft is a brave leader in feminist thought. She and I are of the same generation and share a depth of understanding and love for the emergence of women’s consciousness world wide. Thank you, Charlotte, for your perseverance and leadership, and your long term personal support for me in the writing of my book.
When I hear the word Texas my mind goes immediately to Amy Hagstrom Miller. Amy has been in the news a lot lately because she is the founder and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, a national provider of abortion services that began in Austin, Texas in 2003. While I don’t know Amy personally, I want to thank her for being strong and clear during the grueling fight in the Texas state legislature over abortion rights. She is an inspiration for all of us and especially for younger women looking to be part of the movement.
There is an incredible group of people who put out “the newsjournal of Catholic opinion,” aptly named Conscience. The group is Catholics for Choice. The journal is published three times a year. I’ve been aware of it since the 1980’s and it has kept me informed and uplifted through its progressive, thought empowering news and opinion. Thank you, Conscience!
I’m sure you’ve noticed how the current political climate in the United States is becoming increasingly hostile to providers of legal abortion. I am deeply impressed by the courage and fortitude of those who are isolated in states like Mississippi and North Dakota. Unfortunately, it continues to get worse in many places.
Not so in Boulder. Our community continues to be solidly supportive. A few weeks ago, I was invited to attend a board meeting of Women’s Health here in town. Susan Levy, the center’s director, asked me to come to tell the story of the founding of the then Boulder Valley Clinic in 1973. Most of the current board members did not know the history or how it was at the beginning. There will be a 40th anniversary celebration this fall. Time is moving along!
Speaking of time, it feels like I am entering a new period in my life. I’m approaching 70 and feeling an even greater depth of connection to All Life both personally and professionally. I feel it as a writer and a healer, but also simply as a person living on this Earth. I am lucky to be blessed with good health and a widening community of friends and colleagues. The Quest work I do (wilderness rites of passage for women) seems intent on continuing probably until I’m unable to walk the land anymore(!). Deep gratitude for this. The work in wild nature is truly the living edge of reality consciousness. Kudos to those who found the courage to join us for our most recent 9 day journey in July and also those who have come in past years. My only wish is that more people would avail themselves of the experience. By the way, dear activists and health care workers, this sort of retreat could be a great renewal of peace and strength to you (programs can be designed to meet your specific needs).
My sadhana, the unfolding spiritual practice that entered my awareness twenty-eight years ago continues to augment and guide me towards surrender to the workings of the Forces. That’s short for Forces of the Universe, a favorite phrase of mine that refers to the power and unity of all life. Further shortening gives us God, Creator, Oneness, The Powers, and Spirit. I’m grateful that we have myriad ways to name the greater consciousness of being. We humans in our infinite diversity seem to need many choices and colorful ways of expressing who we are. We see this all around the world and everywhere in our own country. It all works beautifully as long as we don’t lock into rigidity and into thinking only one way is the right way. The longer I live, the more I learn the beauty of each being’s way of navigating life’s changes and the spiritual openings that come to magnify and deepen each life. My intention is to increase the extent to which I share my perspective and my work with people.
Thank you, Everyone!
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 to promote the recognition of the importance of women’s lives in order to help bring things into better balance. The recognition and subsequent understanding of the need for equality will shift the imbalances of human life on Earth. When we embrace conscious caring as the way to live on the planet, we will re-organize human life to be in sync with all other life on Earth. Empowering women is essential to this profoundly transformative historical process.
I’d love to know your thoughts about this. You can comment on this post by clicking on the title and scrolling to the bottom comments area. Or, you can contact me privately.
Be well and blessings!
Abortion Isn’t Really About Abortion – Part 1
Abortion is a collection of some of the most difficult issues related to human growth and development.
—Life Choices
Abortion isn’t really or only about abortion. It’s about women’s power in life, and learning to take conscious responsibility for life on earth. For most women, there’s nothing wrong and everything right about having an abortion. So, what’s the source of the idea that abortion is terrible and a problem? For complete answers, you’ll have to read my book! But meanwhile, consider doing the following:
1. Speak freely about abortion. Cut through the shame and stigma in any way you can.
2. Support your friends, neighbors, and colleagues to speak out and include abortion in the normal course of daily conversations.
3. Be a good listener if there is someone in your life who is upset about abortion. It’s natural and normal to have feelings.
4. Don’t play into the false division between “pro-choice” and “pro-life.” No one is against life. The slogans serve to perpetuate nasty power conflicts that have their root in narrow, unthought-through attitudes about sex and life.
5. Rise above the hysteria that blankets the news about abortion. Don’t play into the over-sensationalizing that goes on in the U.S. Large numbers of women have had or will have abortions in their lifetime. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s normal.
6. Support local health organizations that provide abortions. Let them know you support them by writing or calling them. Volunteer with them if you can. Send them flowers. Let them know you’re grateful they’re there, especially if you live in an area where clinics and doctors are being harassed.
They are:
the FAN clinics (Feminist Abortion Network).
the members of ACN (Abortion Care Network).
the members of NAF (National Abortion Federation).
Stay tuned for Part 2 in my next blog post. Happy Spring, everyone!
Keep Women in the Center of Pregnancy, and Life
To build a society based on human need, with love of all beings as its guiding
principle, the reproductive needs of women have to be included in the center of the foundation. The feminine aspects of life, heretofore treated as peripheral, marginal, or unimportant, must be given their rightful status as central to the human condition. —Life Choices
KEEP WOMEN IN THE CENTER OF PREGNANCY, AND LIFE
In a gorgeous commencement speech in 2010, Meryl Streep pointed Barnard College graduates towards their destiny and responsibility to carry the torch for gender equality and understand it as a human issue rather than only a women’s issue. It’s an important distinction.
Understanding gender equality as a human issue rather than as a women’s issue opens the way to correcting misperceptions and confusions about the specific issues that form the content of women’s lives. Reproductive choice is one of these, of course, and abortion the most controversial. Imagine what it would be like if we didn’t think of reproduction as a “woman’s issue,” and instead took responsibility as a society for the health and wellbeing of all.
The only way to do this of course is to give women a central role in determining ways to provide for the health and wellbeing of all. We’re on our way to getting there, but we have a long way to go. Women are only partially empowered and only in some parts of the world. The gains we have made are still precarious and in need of continuous vigilance and care.
Male referencing is rampant in our culture. Meryl speaks about it from her experience as a female actor. She explains her sense that men are unable to empathize with female characters. She says that most straight men can’t experience themselves through a female character the way most women are able to experience themselves and empathize with a male character. She attributes this to the way we are raised in this culture where a hero is assumed to be of the male gender and men and all things male are made to be superior to women and all things female.
A few weeks ago, I gave a talk to a local community group. I asked each of the listeners to do their best to keep the woman in the center of the pregnancy experience as I was talking about abortion. This became controversial almost instantly. Someone asserted that she could not do that because for her it’s always about two people, the man as well as the woman. Another person asked, “But what about the child?”
First, about the man. Ideally, it’s good for both the woman and the man involved to be on the same page with regard to a pregnancy. However, this is often not the case or not possible for myriad reasons, and the woman is left alone with the pregnancy and the decision. I go into more depth about this in my book.
If you wonder about “the child,” the best thing to do is to ask the woman. She is the best authority on the meaning and place of pregnancy in her life. Don’t allow yourself to separate her from her pregnancy in your mind just because she’s considering or has had an abortion. She is not the enemy of “the child.” Far from it. She is the one, the only one, who knows all the intricacies of her current situation as well as the subtleties of relationship, both actual and potential. It is her opinion and sense of things that will give you the most accurate understanding.
We usually act in terms of how we perceive the limitations of our circumstances. We also act in terms of the limitations of our perception of ourselves and the possibilities in our lives.
Karen Albright Lin has written an exquisite short story that captures the subtleties of relationship and timing that underlie making a decision under difficult circumstances. Click here to read her story.
Our world is a patriarchal world. We live in a patriarchal culture. Granted, it’s changing, but it’s still overwhelmingly male dominated. How we think about ourselves as women or as men is a direct result of the societal circumstances in which we live. The historical movement for women’s freedom—feminism—is changing this by moving human consciousness towards the recognition of women’s experience as central to the human condition. What could be more important?
It is vital to keep the woman in the center when you think about pregnancy. Not to do so denigrates motherhood as well as womanhood and personhood because it splits a woman within herself. It relegates a woman to a secondary status in relation to her own life and to life in general. It is deeply dishonoring. It is disempowering. It separates women from their own free will and active volition with regard to when, how, and under what circumstances they will bring life through their bodies. It censors choice and equates maternal service and sacrifice with servitude.
Each of us needs to do what we can to move our world towards an attitude of kindness, respect, and reverence when it comes to women and their decisions about pregnancy. Each of us needs to do what we can to empower women to make their decisions from a place of strength and connection, to those who are closest to them, and to Life as a whole.
Writing 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 Wimmin.
Humanity’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.
Room 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.
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 the opportunity to be more human.
The opportunity to be more human. Yes, but only if the rise of feminine strength and perspective is given the central focus it deserves. Humanity will not become more human without the full participation of women and a revival of respect for more-than-human nature. The forces of history and of the universe will not have it any other way. There are real power paradigms vying for historical dominance. In other words, change is upon us and will be for some time to come. Centering society in the truth of women’s lives (which is what reproductive choice does) changes the terms of understanding for all people. It gives people a different awareness of how life works.
The change in consciousness is from one of obligatory caring, power of one over another, competition, and greed, to a consciousness of equality and conscious caring. It will grow as humanity shifts direction and embraces living “in a different way.”
MAY OUR HEARTS OPEN TO ALL OF EXISTENCE.
MAY WE LEARN TO LIVE AS ONE BODY.
MAY WE LEARN TO LOVE AS ONE BEING.