No! To the New Confederacy! No! To QAnon!

                                                  One of Trump's New Confederates... Brandishing Their Flag

​Generally speaking, I try to keep my politics focused on the big political design of the Holy Scriptures: be gentle and compassionate as your Divine Beloved... Obviously, compassion implies peace, nonviolence, social justice, the equality of gender and race, and the loving stewardship of our Common Home... But, the attempted coup and insurrection that was prompted by Trump, will not stand without my voice (small as it is) getting into the mix...

Rush Limbaugh can moan and groan his appreciation for the violence employed by the patriots of 1776 -- and wish that current "patriots" shared a similar conviction... if they had, how many of our Representatives would have been murdered? As it is, January 6, 2021 will forever be a day of infamy: when America's "dance with democracy" nearly came (how close?) to a shocking end... That "nearly" was serious: what if the military had followed Trump? What if former General Flynn still had troops at his command? That is just "how close" Wednesday was to disaster...

​I've written and said it before: tell no lie! Neither money nor violence are the root of evil. Rather, the root of evil are all of the lies that support it! Racism is entirely constructed on lies. Sexism is entirely constructed on lies. Inequality is entirely constructed on lies. Social injustice is entirely constructed on lies. And the greed that would willingly put @risk the well-being of the entire Planet is entirely constructed on lies. Limbaugh, Jones, Carlson, and the rest of the plainly right-wing-nut media would have nothing to say -- nothing to add to our national conversation -- if they could never again lie! And as for Trump, it does seem that lying for him comes as natural as breathing...

Where do we go from here? Right next to the table upon which I write, are a couple stacks of books: books that are my reference points to the wisdom I seek: there's the Gospel of Jesus, the Tao Te Ching, the Bhagavad Gita, the poems of Li Po and Tu Fu, Be Love Now by Ram Dass, the Tao, Watercourse Way by Alan Watts, Illuminations of Hildegard by Matthew Fox, a book by Fr. Bede Griffiths... with more to my right and more behind me and more out into our Gathering Room... The point is not that I can read! Rather, it is that I have points to which I refer as I strive to build my sacred life... 

​When I write about compassion, nonviolence, the Beatitude Life, contemplation, radical personalism, social justice. etc. I don't just pull ideas out of thin air: I constantly check my references! Is this, is that, at least approaching consistency with the big ideas of the Gospel, with the Tao, with St. Francis, with Dorothy Day...? I don't check in with Limbaugh or Carlson: I don't reference Trump or Cruz: remember by their fruits you shall know them: they lie! Who in their right mind wants a mouthful of their fruit? 

​I am a deeply flawed human male: but with my reference points frequently employed, I still have potential! 

​What are your reference points? Which exemplars or saints or sages direct your attention? How do you imitate Christ? Are your prayers about your wants or are they about how you need to serve others? If you are still breathing, you still have time to become the hero of your own life story: not as in "look at me!", but in "this, becoming Love, is my real life!" Read anything by Ram Dass, but especially, Be Love Now... I understand that everything is a choice: you can believe Trump and QAnon, or you can take a chance on Robert Daniel and read some Ram Dass... there is a big difference: Ram Dass will fill your head and heart with wonder... while QAnon can, in the end, only promise (no pun intended), a brick in the ass... 

​Building your sacred life is as daring as the sacred choice to never tell a lie -- and to turn your back on the liars: and if you still haven't learned how to tell the difference between truth and lies, just compare whomever's words and actions to the Beatitudes of Yeshua (Jesus of the Beloved)... it really is quite simple...