Creating a Practice of ‘We’: Step 2

As we move into creating a practice of "We", we begin to make distinctions. We notice differences between what we used to think habitually in seeing other people as different and to be feared, and what we’re beginning to think might be a better, more fruitful path.

The path of ‘We’ could be described as a shift in being in our lives, in this world, away from seeing others as different, and instead we’re moving toward a view, an experience, even a life that allows us and engages us in seeing others as the same.

The cry of all people who suffer oppression, from those Chinese people who practice Falun Gong and are murdered for doing so, to the Palestinians who want a land of their own, to the Tibetan people who want a peaceful country to live in, to the Lakota of western America who have declared their independence from the United States, the cry of all oppressed people has always been the same: We are people here, too!

That is how we move into a practice of "We". We begin to see that all people across the world love their children, desire peace and tranquility, want to create a life and contribution they can call their own, want to contribute to their community in some shape or form. All of Us hurt when a loved one dies, feel hunger when We haven’t eaten, cry when a Beloved decides to leave Us and move on. There is no difference between any of Us, there never has been.

So one way to begin to follow the distinctions between old hateful tribal thinking and your new ‘Way of We’, is to notice when others talk about people from other countries, or other groups, and see if the way they speak is inclusive and engaging, or off-putting and divisive.

Then, see how you respond. Do you seek more connection and engagement, or do you mimic their call for division and mistrust, hatred and fear-mongering? What kind of person are you, in your conversations with others? Are you actually being the person you envision you CAN BE, or are you falling short and parrotting the splitting that others are promoting?

Our last seven years here in the U.S. have seen an administration bent on splitting groups so that they will hate each other. The purpose of this tactic has been obvious: they can get us distracted on foolish issues of division, while they set about stealing the country right from under our noses. And they’ve largely succeeded, too, in the guise of protecting us.

We must practice our ‘Way of We’ daily. Seek the connections, the similarities, the love and harmony between others and yourself. Sure, you can always find the discord, that’s easy to do. Who cares? What good has it ever done you to look for how the ‘other person’ is wrong, worse than you, different and therefore to be feared?

Seek the Way of We. We’ll find it together.

Yours, Ours, Forever,

Don, aka The Gandhi Guy