For the past several months I have felt blocked. I feel like my passion for writing is gone. I still have a lot to say, but I am unsure how to say it. It feels like the collective consciousness has taken a severe hit, which I know is just the pendulum rearing back to spring forward again eventually, but it is draining, nevertheless. My last passion post, Female, was harsh, but also true. Sometimes I feel bad about writing it and consider deleting it. Other times I feel like it speaks volumes to help others with their own self-awareness. I just finished reading Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning. In it, he partially describes his practice of Logotherapy, “…the patient must sometimes hear things which are very disagreeable to hear.” That is how I feel about Female. I know that I have personally benefitted from critical things people have said to me about my actions and positions. It always stings, but once you get past the sting and look at it objectively you either see the errors you have made, or you realize this person is full of ego and is not really trying to help you. The key is objectivity. Do not take it personally even though it feels very personal.
Another person I admire once said that his faith group made a practice of being evangelized by people of other faiths. He pointed out that you really learn a lot about the actions and beliefs of your group when others point out how your actions and beliefs make them feel. Sometimes you have to get crucified in order for it to sink in and change you. But, I’m no Saint. I did write that post in frustration and full of judgment. To me, that does not make it any less true. It is my perspective. That is the only vantage point from which I can see. I have been given no insight to how my view is wrong, or where their view has been misunderstood by me. One friend wrote to me after reading that post and told me that my post was extremely offensive to her. I can see how it would be and I knew that people would feel that way, regardless of my intentions. She shared some areas where we agree, and she privately reiterated her reasons for not sharing her negative views of our current government publicly. I get it. It does not help our collective consciousness to evolve out of this backward swing, but I get it. I do feel bad about some things I said about religion. I made it sound like it is all just brainwashing. I know that every religion has some of that and that every religion has as many ways of interpretation as there are people in the world. I have conservative and liberal friends who are catholic, as well as conservative and liberal friends who enjoy other religions and no religion. My truth is that the things I described in that post about religion I have seen with my own eyes. I have experienced some of it personally and have witnessed other things about it through friends. I did not make it up. It is a problem for society that we need to resolve, in my opinion.
Viktor Frankl taught about choices and how they impact our psychology both personally and collectively. The choice not to speak out will impact you, your immediate family, and society, whether you like it or not. Likewise, speaking out about injustices, wrong doings, and immoral behavior by people you support will help advance society and allow others who feel the same way to actually do something meaningful to solve society’s problems. People speak out about the immoral behavior of others, the people they don’t know, “those people,” women who have abortions or simply support a woman’s right to choose, women who dress a certain way and behave sexually a certain way, but political leaders who do despicable things by everyone’s standard, they enjoy their silence. That is wrong. It is just as wrong as the immoral actions of everyone else. The only way I can understand it is to see it as fear. It takes courage to speak Truth. Look what happened to Jesus! As I’ve said before, if we are not disciples of Jesus, were are simply followers, and He does not need more followers. He needs people willing to take action.
I do not want to write about politics in the blog anymore. I never wanted to at all. Everywhere I look I see that politics and religion are the causes of our divisions and so I feel compelled to write about them. On the bright side, I see a few people who never spoke about politics before 2016 speaking passionately about it now. They tend to be more liberal, though, and so they are ignored by conservatives. That is why it is so important for conservatives to speak up about the disagreements they have with this administration. But I digress. I want this blog to be about people with disabilities and the people who love them. I want to impart what I have learned from my experiences with my son and from the things I have read that speak Truth. But lately I can’t do that without writing about politics. If an idea for a post comes in, it quickly vanishes. On the rare occasion it stays for a while, it gets blocked when I sit down to write. I am trying to get over this. Hopefully it will happen soon. Thank you for sticking with me through my veering off into the ditch of politics and for your continued support.
I have recently updated my Books I Love post, if you’re interested in new material to read. Oh, I also have been doing lessons with Richard Rohr. They are called, Another Way to See the Cross, and Another Way to See the Bible. Available at https://cac.org. There is also a Facebook page you can be admitted to after doing some of the lessons. It is truly inspiring to be part of such a contemplative group.
Take care and Happy Easter, Friends!
