Perhaps it is human nature to try to find someone to blame for the tragedy in Tucson.  It seems to be a lot easier to look for faults in someone else, rather than being willing to look at our own stuff.  While I abhor the tone of the politic rhetoric in this country, I do not believe that the politicians, radio hosts, media outlets or any one political party are the root cause of the tragedy.

On the other hand, I respectively disagree with those who say this is an isolated incident, carried out by a deranged individual, and there is no other cause.  To me, that represents a justification for us to avoid looking at ourselves and our relationship to this event.

We lend our individual energy to our country’s political climate, and therein lies our PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.  The recent events are a chance for each of us to look at what we have done to contribute to the unprecedented level of negative behavior and actions rampant in our country’s political environment.  I prepared the following list of questions I needed to ask myself:

1.  Have I ever made demeaning or disrespectful comments about a political leader, either publicly or privately.

2.  Have I spent my time allowing my brain to be filled with the vitriolic rhetoric spewed out on the talk radio shows, instead of doing my own research on an issue and coming to my own conclusions.

3.  Have I let my racial or religious bigotry enter into my dialogue and views of our political leaders.

4.  Have I ever agreed with the idea that violence or the use of a weapon is a solution to a political disagreement.

5.  And perhaps most importantly, have I become so polarized on an issue or aligned with a political party, that I am no longer fair and objective.

And so this tradegy is one of those teachable-moment opportunities, when we each get to take our own moral inventory, and assess what part we may have played, either consciously or unconsciously, in the state of affairs in this country.   I have gone through the list above, and I know I need to do better in the future.

The First Amendment provision of free speech gives us the right to say what we believe, in a very unfettered way.  On the other hand, that does not mean that we SHOULD say what ever we want.  Yes, we have the right to erroneously yell “fire” in a crowed room, a school or a hospital.  Alternatively, having the right doesn’t make it right.

I believe in the goodness of people, and 99% of people would never pick up a gun and commit the crime that Jared Loughner did.  We can, though, when we are unaware of the repercussions of our actions, contribute to a political world that is already out of balance due to our thinking and our actions.

As Maya Angelou says – when we know better, we do better.  Here’s to all of us doing better.

 – Layer the following ingredients:

- A large dose of fear
- Anger fueled by misunderstanding
- Vitriolic dialogue spewed by the cable news networks
- A huge helping of bigotry
- Several pinches of prejudice
- A healthy portion of ignorance
- More anger and more fear, to taste

– Toss the above ingredients

– Sprinkle more fear on top layer

– Place the above mixture on a fire built from righteous indignation

– Allow politicians to fuel the flames with inflammatory rhetoric

– Wait for explosion to happen

– Be shocked when it occurs!

Only known antidote to this poisonous concoction – equal portions of LOVE, COMPASSION and UNDERSTANDING

The great masters who walked this planet often delivered their messages well before the world was ready to receive them.  I think one of them was Buckminster Fuller, also known as Bucky.

Thank you, Mr. Fuller, for the advice you gave us, which remains so relevant today.

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete” — Buckminster Fuller

“There are three kinds of people in the world — those who are asleep, those who are stirring, and those who are awake. If you try to wake up the sleeping person, he will just mumble and go back to sleep. If you wake up the stirring person, he will wake up just long enough to curse you and then go back to sleep. Instead of trying to wake them up, if you come across someone who is asleep or stirring, what you should do is fluff their pillow, tuck them in, and kiss them on the forehead. The important joy for those who are awake is to seek each other out, connect with others who are awake, talk, sing and celebrate together. This will create a groundswell of awareness. As this groundswell increases and spreads out, it will awaken the stirring and will begin to stir those who are still sleeping” — Buckminster Fuller

The Raven is a special creature in the Native America culture, as it represents The Messenger.  It is the one who delivers information from the past and the future.

My recent trip to Arizona and New Mexico provided a great spiritual retreat, and an opportunity to connect with the ancestral energy that permeates this area.   What came through very strongly to me is that the dynamics in the world are out of balance, and for too long the darker forces have been winning the battle with the lighter energies. 

Human life, like other forms of life on this planet, relies on energy as the basis of its existence.  In addition, human nature encompasses the concept of duality, the existence of both light and dark forces within each of us.  Energy and duality are part of our very nature, the essence of our being. Consequently, the type of energy we engage in individually directly effects the quality of the energy in the world.

We seem to have forgotten (or maybe we do not realize) that in spite of the duality of our human nature, we do live in a free-will environment.  That means that we have the freedom to exercise any number of choices at any given moment.   We can choose to live in the darkness, or to live in the light.  For myself, I know I have contributed to the darkness in the world, on more occasions that I want to admit.  And many of those choices were made unconsciously.

We can choose to live in a state of fear, which is nothing more than the absence of love.  We can choose to be angry, judgmental, righteous, dishonest and deceitful, and exhibit any of the other behaviors that reflect the negative state in which we catch ourselves.

Alternatively, we can get up every day, and choose to be as kind, loving, compassionate, caring, generous, honest, truthful and supportive as we can be.  We can choose love and we can choose peace.

Numerous opportunities exist every day to make either dark or light choices, and each of us is responsible for what energy we lend to the world.   It is important to understand the impact of our words and actions, as this is a critical time for humanity to bring itself into balance.  And so this is the message of the Raven for 2011: 

– At those times when telling a lie is the easy choice, tell the truth instead.

– When the opportunity arises to be righteous, choose compassion as an alternative.

– And when you find yourself getting caught up in fear, love is the way out.

This message is being sent in the hope that all of us will begin to love ourselves and each other in a greater way, as we work to create a better future for the planet.   I have placed that on my intention list, and I ask others to make their own individual commitment.

For love is all there is, and love is all that matters!