It genuinely bothers me to hear people responding to Charlottesville by saying that we need to "unite"...
It is not possible to unite if we also condemn. Any sort of condemnation, hatred, or division, prevents us from unity.
If we claim to unite with people who condemn, we are uniting with condemnation! This is basically the same thing as not uniting at all, because it is not possible to be in a state of unity while also seeking to separate oneself (which is what condemnation is at its core).
As long as there are those who condemn, seeking unity is not possible; we can't even conceive of it. Unity has been, thus far, an idea that is so out of our range of experience that we can't possibly know what unity really looks like in the flesh.
We have not experienced unity because we have no been able to admit to the fact that we are divided. Like when we are lost; sometimes we need to admit to where we are, in order to become found again.
It is not wise nor healthy to deny our division as an individual, as a country, or as a species, because this is in fact where we are.
The paradox is that in order to find unity, we need to allow division to take place. We need to stop demanding, fighting, and pushing for those who genuinely believe other people deserve to be condemned, punished and killed, to change their beliefs. This is not going to happen and there is likely nothing we can do to prevent people from continuing to live in a hateful and punishing manner.
We can, however, begin to become aware of where we stand and begin to make that stance known.
We should all begin to ask ourselves the following questions with the intention of being as honest as possible.
How do I allow physical and emotional acts of violence to happen?
How do I perpetrate violence within myself and within the world at large?
Am I constantly on the lookout for ways to condemn other people? Am I on the lookout for ways people are different from me?
How do I respond when I notice someone is different from myself?
What do I value, and how do I bring my values into the flesh in my day to day experience?
Why do I value what I value? Do I value what I do out of love or fear?
How do I respond when I see acts of cruelty that do not immediately impact me?
It is extremely important to dive into the shadow reasons as to why we value what we do. For example, many of us value peace, with the positive intention of creating a more calm world. The shadow side of valuing peace, however, oftentimes manifests as allowing acts of hatred to happen without speaking up because we just want to "keep the peace". We value peace because we think that being peaceful is a way of avoiding painful and oftentimes terrifying conflict with other people.
Explore your shadow aspects, without holding judgement toward yourself. Observe any need to punish or condemn your shadow self, and question it.
It is time to drop the myth that being peaceful means "Keeping the peace". "Keeping the peace" when violence is taking place is a way of spiritual bypassing and thus denying reality. When we refuse to take a stand when violence is taking place, we are not "keeping the peace", we are perpetuating violence and defending a peace that was never there in the first place. When we stay silent, we perpetuate violence.
It has been written that there is a season for everything. Let me repeat that. There is a season for everything.
I trust that those who believe in peace will "keep the peace" when peace exists, as they most likely have been doing that. However, we must realize that peace will not exist if we continually choose to turn a blind eye to hatred when hatred takes place.
We need to become aware of when we are choosing peace over action as a result of our own fear. It is time for the peacemakers to have the courage to make waves with their words and actions as the world becomes increasingly less peaceful.
It is easy to be peaceful when the world is peaceful. It takes great courage, however, to take a stand for peace, when doing so can cost us our lives.
