Diversity Is Life

The conquest for sameness is at the root of all of the problems America is facing today.

I open my mind’s eye and see the resurgence of racism and white supremacy. I see the open persecution of native american, black, and gay, peoples. I see the mass extinction of animal species taking place now, and I cannot help but see that trying to enforce sameness is at the root of all of these.

Take it even further out, and I see institutionalized education systems and religions, cookie cutter beauty standards, and expensive, white marriage ceremonies before age 25.

We recognize our biological needs of having enough, and our emotional needs of being enough, if not met, manifest in feeling bad, either emotionally, or physically, or both. And yet, we go about addressing these needs in our own unique ways.

As much as we try, we will never be exactly the same as any other person that has been alive, ever.

Why is this?

Diversity is Life.

Where there is life, there is diversity.

Ecosystems exist with a vast array of different species living, interacting, and multiplying. Take away even a single species and the ecosystem is forever changed... Take away many species, and the ecosystem collapses.

Evolution itself happens as a result of differing concepts, ideas, and life forms interacting together.

It’s quite intriguing for me to observe as a medical intuitive that this quest for sameness has in fact led to a plethora of problems in our own gut microbiota; we are now scientifically finding that a healthy gut functions best with a diverse range of friendly bacteria. In the past this was obtained through bacteria naturally present in the soil that made its way onto our food, then into our guts… in our present, however, this intricate richness is mostly void, lost in the black hole of sterile, processed foods.

To end diversity is to end life itself.

We are living in a dying society, unable to hold space for differences.

We are all guilty of losing touch, and of forgetting. Let my words carry you towards remembrance, as I remember with you.

I am consistently amazed at how much of a fight it is, to enforce sameness. Sameness goes so against what life itself is, that you see a person must literally fight life itself to achieve sameness.

Sameness is a fight, one that eventually leads to death.

We fight weeds that grow between rows of commercial seeds. We irradiate the produce once it’s harvested, killing the bacteria that was thriving on its surface.

We fight the our natural tendency to be different. We have a critic living in our heads that tells us what to do, or not to do, in order to blend in and avoid being bullied.

We fight to pluck eyebrow hairs, we fight the urge to wear that one dress because it’s “weird”,  and we damn other people to hell if they don’t share our religious views.

We fight people who are not of our race. We attack and throw slurs and we get guns and hand grenades and tanks and...

Did it ever occur to us, that we could opt out?

What’s the worst thing that could happen, if we could cultivate within ourselves, a space for differences?

If instead of condemning the person who’s muslim, we just took a breath in?

If instead of restricting our diets, we allowed ourselves to eat what resonates?

If instead of graduating from high school then going to college then getting married then having 2.5 children… we just took a moment to reflect?

But beyond all this, if we allowed ourselves to be exactly as we are, without the need to act upon the whims of the “I”... Life itself, would change.

Life doesn't have to be a fight. Life itself is not war. Life is not unidimensional. Life is not closed. It doesn't have to be.

Life itself is peaceful, diverse, and expansive.

When we fight the diverse expansiveness that is life, life becomes a fight.

And ultimately, when we fight life, we fight ourselves.

It is time to stop running in the battlefield, and turn inwards.

It is time to see beyond the external circumstances to which we have no real control, and reclaim the only real power we have... that is, the power we have over our own minds, and the power our minds have to shape our own lives.

Two Suns

I find myself surrounded by trees in autumn. The sky is lit up like fire, and all above me there are golden clouds, burning; though I can hardly see beyond the dense forest of reds and yellows. The sunlight, like liquid, submerges everything below it in a shimmery gold color.

Red and orange leaves cushion the lush forest floor, as the yellow of the sunlight merges with the color of the trees. I stand in the middle of a pathway amidst the scene.

A sidewalk stretches seemingly endlessly in a straight line either direction. Behind me, there are mountains; ahead, a large expanse of water. For reasons beyond my comprehension, the sidewalk is untouched by the falling leaves of the forest... Yet immediately beyond the pathway the forest grows wild, burning neon with the transition of summer to winter; of daylight, to nighttime.

Breathing in the air, I am comforted by the familiar taste of ocean air, and of woodland forest. The breeze is soft and playful, blowing unpredictably in any direction that it chooses. I close my eyes and feel the subtle pull of my hair and clothes being completely at the whim of the changing airs.

There are two others people with me; three. Behind me, they are emerging from a building, walking on the sidewalk. The building is coming out of the mountain, and is constructed of white stone. Columns line its entrance, and it is quietly elegant; hidden by the fiery forest and its leaves as its sidewalk stretches outwards.

I recognize the two others who are walking with me. One is my maternal grandfather, who has often walked with me in dreams. And finally, my youngest brother is walking too.

As Miles approaches, we join hands, and walk forwards, as the other two continue to walk behind me.

Nearing the shore of what looks like an ocean, I notice a puddle of water to the left of the path, and break off. The others watch what I am doing for a moment, hesitating before joining. I walk over by the edge of the small pond, pull out my camera, and take a picture, revelling in the beauty of the colors playing upon eachother; reds upon oranges and yellows, with the sunset in the background.

To my surprise, I notice something when I am reviewing the pictures… It appears that instead of just one sun in the sky, there are two suns; two stars.

I gasp, and let the others know, pointing. We look at the sunset in amazement, perplexed at the two stars burning in the sky (The sun is technically a star, and so I thought of the scene as such).

Little did we know that earlier, the view of the two suns was obscured by the denseness of the forest. We could not see the breathtaking sight amidst the visual noise of our immediate surroundings.

As we each walk further down the sidewalk, we find ourselves at the shore of an ocean. The sidewalk continues outwards in a straight line, but we step off the sidewalk; this time standing on the light, soft sand of the ocean.

We watch the two suns in the sky, burning with the time of transition; as they light up the sky in a fiery vision of the impossible becoming possible.

I am filled with a great sense of spaciousness, of peace, as the vision comes to a close.