Your post is too long for me to read to try to comprehend.

The guidelines are pretty simple, I’d ask that you stick to that.

What interests me would be for you to express the discomfort you’re feeling – not as it projects outwardly, but inward.

The question really is, “Are you willing or able to go to the source?” Nothing else really matters.

Firstly, if you don’t mind, what is your first name? Calling you “mf” feels a bit like referring to criminals by their last names only, which is a bit dehumanizing, IMHO. I’d rather call beautiful Will of Stratford, just that, instead of “Shakespeare”, for that very reason. And I apologize in advance if your 1st name is common knowledge, and I haven’t been around long enough, or paid close enough attention to “get it”.

Ok, first thing: “my first reaction to this was how can this be? how could he not know that?”

I so relate to that sentiment, and this isn’t about Larry.

Let me take a risk here, that I hate making, that my ego tells me I shouldn’t. So many times, talking is riskier than shutting up. But here I go.

My husband is an artist. He was brought up in a tolerant, moderate Muslim county (yes, they do exist). He was brought up in a modern, Muslim family, and the religion was not forced on him. And today, though there are things he respects and appreciates about Islam, he is NOT a Muslim.

So, we have a wide circle of friends and clients. Amongst them is an Israeli woman who was brought up on a Kibbutz in Israel.

OK. So, although she has a point of view (or point of you, as MB would say) that differs quite a bit from ours, she shares, but doesn’t push.

But, her parents, who live in Israel, and are Zionist all the way, send us e-mails that are rather extreme. As in ” Arabs and Muslims are not against Israel because of war, deprivation or hardship, but because they are against the state of Israel. PERIOD. And they are barbarians. And this is a fight between barbarians, and civilization.” I kid you not. These are the e-mails we get.

And even if this is true of a small percentage of Muslims and/or Arabs, trust me, a Palestinian child dying of malnutrition is hardly “against Israel” because of a philosophical belief that “Israel shouldn’t exist”.

So yes, my response is, “how can they not know that?”

And yet, if we asked them, they would say, “Oh, we don’t mean YOUR HUSBAND, who we MET AND THINK IS GREAT is ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE! He is the EXCEPTION!” Uh, yeah. But, no.

So, it is this “othering” of people, for whatever the reasons, that is responsible for the violence, etc., etc.

And mf, you touched on this, and I love you for it: PATRIARCHY HURTS MEN, TOO. Because, to think you are entitled to more, that your “point of you” is the right “point of view”–it messes with your head.

Just like slavery, just like what happened to the Native Americans, just like, just like….

Here is a sonnet I wrote 5 years ago that expresses it in my “own way”:

Genesis

Sarah, saddened by her childless state
Demands that Hagar lie with Abraham.
In doing so, she moves the hand of fate–
Lives out the drama of the great “I AM”.

As Ishmael plays in the endless sand,
Sarah feels a stirring in her womb.
A miracle wrought by stern Yahweh’s hand
Brings more new life into the desert tomb.

But Sarah’s joy is overcome by greed.
She banishes her slaves into the wild.
Her heart is hardened by her driving need
To prove that Isaac is God’s favored child.

And in the desert now, as was before,
The sons of Abraham are waging war.

Ruth Powers, copyright 2004

At least, it explores one small facet of one issue. Yet, it is all like that. All the othering, all the “I am better than you because…”

Forgive me, Jordan. This is the stuff that gets me kicked out of parties, and makes me want to shut up forever and forever. It is so uncomfortable.

IMHO, to save this world grace would have to intervene and show all these apparent individuals, we are all exactly the same underneath the gender, color, body and facial structure, language, personality, history, genetics, circumstances, etc, etc.

That everyone is you in a different disguise. So the word [you] equals [oneness].

I believe this will lead to love, compassion or at least tolerance and acceptance of all.

For me, unless I’m caught off guard, this is what I experience when I meet others (it was given to me by grace), and this is what is needed to stop inhumanity of all kinds and to save this world and those living here.

It does’nt seem like anything else can do it but divine grace itself.

MF: my first reaction to this was how can this be? how could he not know that? then i thought this is how separation works–we can be in the same space as someone else and never feel what they are feeling, thinking, experiencing. this is why people feel so alone. not to pick on larry, i’m sure there are people suffering right now, who may even be close to me emotionally and proximity-wise and i don’t know that they are suffering….

the anti-female nature of our culture (of the whole world really) is pervasive. yet, many people (particularly males but some women too) don’t see it or feel it. women (and children) are killed daily in the US due to anti-female attitudes and beliefs (so-called domestic violence) that are taught and reinforced through religion and institutions. i noticed when my son was growing up, wearing long locks and later joining football, that the worst thing to call a man is a woman (luckily he and i had talks about the name calling and i invited him to deeply look at what was going on). i won’t even get into the daily judgments and put downs that women have to withstand just to survive, and denial of that reality by the culture/society that perpetuates it.

so, my question is how can people not perceive the hundreds, thousands of years of suffering and oppression of ‘others’ that is happening daily right in front of them? is the separation causing us not to see it? or because the oppression is happening and no one stops it, is that why we believe in separation?

don’t mean to sound didactic but i really want to know.

JVS: If that’s the case, and believe it well could be, then they’d better getter started! (sic)

MF: Even though the states and europe are commonly referred to as ‘the west’, i wonder if DL could also be referring to countries & regions west of Tibet? then that would also include Africa. with DL’s large emphasis on compassion, i would think and hope that ’saving the world’ would include a woman (or group of women) who has compassion, experience and understanding of all forms of oppression. similar to the women ‘peace keepers’ of Liberia, who were instrumental in ceasing their brutal civil war and now lead the country — that truly is saving the world.

I hear you. And your attitude is wonderful. I have a real problem with being defensive and full of pride at times, and what you’re espousing is the opposite of that.

I didn’t mean what I said personally, towards you. It was more me talking to myself (with an audience, for a change ).

It’s just funny how I’ll say things all the time, such as, “change is difficult”. But then, when I stop and reflect, I think, “No, change that is difficult is difficult. Change I like is easy and splendiforous!”

So, I was coming at it from that perspective. Because I would, and have, said things like “I can’t wait to be proven wrong.” And then realized, upon reflection, that I can’t wait to be proven wrong if, and only if, I like what “wrong” looks like. If that makes sense.

This is virtually impossible to convey through words only.

Finally, after a few exchanges, I advised him to attend the talks of a dear friend of mine who gives dialogues in his country, and to simply sit in his presence.

That will teach him, because in the presence of someone who is free from the ego we spontaneously take the proper attitude, without knowing it, and we become free.

MF: so this is ostensibly a good reason to seek out a guru, yes? therefore, there is something (whatever that something is) to do.

i have experienced this, albeit briefly, as well. personally, i think it is the most natural, spontaneous and effortless way of learning & experiencing how to be free of the ego — simply sitting in someone’s presence (is this what a guru is?) it also feels really great and relaxing.

I think this is why we can save the world by becoming free ourselves. Then those close to us will become free and those close to them will become free and so on.

I have been watching the Dali Lama on steaming Netflix and he talks about compassion a lot. About practicing compassion. I’ve been working in the school system and I have noticed that the kids react really positively to compassion. (Some act like they have never been shown it) If one kid is acting out, I have noticed that he probably doesn’t understand what to do. Usually, if I help him and give him positive reinforcement he really comes around. Of course, not always, some would need the Dali Lama as a teacher.

JVS: I would say that has been my experience.

Oooh, ooh! I smell an intriguing story about an experience of an effortless ego-free state. Do tell! (Purty please.)