The spark within us

In each (person) is a spark able to kindle new fires of human progress, new light for the human spirit. …  When enough of these fires are burning, they create a new dawn of spiritual understanding; the flame of a great people is formed.

 -– Charles A Lindbergh in Of Flight and Life

I have been trying to put how I feel about what happened in the US last week into words, to find some way to move forward after the election.  It’s not that I object overly to a Republican President—though I think the Founding Fathers were correct in their concerns about a strong two-party political system.  We are certainly seeing the effects of that.  But the anger and hatred and denigrating speech that are now, to some people, legitimized concerns me greatly.  I hadn’t planned to write about this here, but I can’t pretend it did not happen, either.  The quote above, which I read this morning in my daily meditations book*, sums up better than I ever could what I would like to be a part of going forward. 

We cannot rely on one person or one institution or any outside force to create the world we wish to live in.  As Gandhi said, we must be the change we wish to see in the world.  I try to do that in my small way through my art practice.  I believe that the energy we feel and which we share in every moment of our lives with those around us affects the very energy and atmosphere we live in.  Each moment is an opportunity to change the world through the choices we make, in how we live each day, and how we interact with others.  The spark, the fire we carry within us can light the world and make it brighter and more beautiful … or it can destroy everything we hold dear. 

I began this blog as a way to share my perspective on the positive aspects of art and art practice, to share what I do with a larger audience because I believe that we each need to do our part, in whatever way that we can, to counteract the anger, violence, hatred and aggressive energies which seem to permeate the world today.  I call on those of you who read this to add your light to the sum of light, to help bring about change, peaceably through cooperation and understanding.  A lot of what we have seen in the past year has been building for a long time and it is a reflection of the ways many feel left behind in our society.  We must honor those feelings and find ways to bring people together to find solutions that work for everyone, not through mandates and top-down policies, but in our communities, in our neighborhoods, one relationship at a time. 

I don’t have the answers.  I only know that we need to do something, so I’m doing what I can and I hope it helps

May peace be with us all….

*Gifts of the Lotus: A book of daily meditations 1974 Compiled by Virginia Hanson Published by The Theosophical Society.