May We Always Be Reminded!

I’ve been told many times that I “live in a Utopian world”; that my way of thinking “just isn’t reality”….

Background-I have always believed in the good that connects us all at our inception.  I think that’s why the philosophy of yoga has always resonated with me so deeply.  The word Namaste -“The light in me, sees and honours the light in you.”  There’s something so profound about those ancient words, something that connects us all to our shared humanity and our shared divinity. A connective thread woven through each of us, binding us together.

Yet, witnessing the tragedies happening daily around the entire world makes it so difficult to hold onto the hope that goodness exists somewhere within us all. I question whether my lifelong beliefs—my faith in goodness—are intricate misconceptions. But here is the crux: I do not, and cannot, accept or believe that we are innately malevolent.

…I think the systems we have created force us into spaces that confine and condense us, darkening the light within us…Generation after generation, layer by layer, the perimeters of organized religious beliefs, once perhaps rooted in communion and meaning, have in many cases become mechanisms for control—a means to govern and mold vast populations. As the world expanded, so did the reach of authority, feeding the powers of a greed and gain mentality, all in the name of “The Bible-Jesus or God”.  This has been what has erected empires, dismantled civilizations and forced tragedies like genocides. 

The architecture of this power has often been constructed at the cost of compassion, totally ignoring and not honouring the truth behind what those “full” ancient texts offered.  I am not discounting or calling down someone’s faith…In fact, the opposite.  I believe we should all believe in something bigger than ourselves…but if you are going to study and live by a text, ultimately judging those who don’t…then make sure you research the whole text…not just what you’ve been given.  There’s a reason it’s called Blind Faith. 

Now, we have entered a new epoch—an age powered by the relentless engines of social media, artificial intelligence, and the currency of data. In this mechanical new world, convenience has become king, and complacency its loyal subject. We are tethered to our devices, pacified by the seamless arrival of Skip-the-Dishes, Amazon packages to our doorsteps, music at our fingertips, and entertainment, news and current events streaming to us without effort or interruption. With a simple click and a digital transaction, our desires are fulfilled—instantly, effortlessly.

But in this automated existence, how often do we pause to consider the human or living tapestry behind each convenience? When was the last time you used a "convenient" service and, even for just a moment, reflected mindfully on the unseen hands and stories that carried it to you?

I remember during a conversation about hunting and food, when my eldest son was only 3, he started asking me questions about where our food came from.  When I asked him, “Well, where do you think something like steak comes from?”  He said, without hesitation, “SAFEWAY!”  and that’s when I knew we needed to have a conversation about the ways of the world-how do we get the things we get, commercial farming, death, killing … and ultimately taking for want.  It brought me back to a very similar conversation I had had with my mother when I was about 9.  Chicken nuggets had just become a “thing”, and I asked if I could try some.  We lived on an acreage in a very rural part of Alberta, and so the golden arches weren’t as easily accessible as they are now.  My mom told me that I could try chicken if I wanted….But I had to kill it first.  Catch it, cut off its head, dunk its bloodied body in boiling water, pluck out its feathers and then cut it open to pull out all its insides.  Once I had done all that- I “had better say thank you to that chicken for its life-it’s sacrifice”… that was my first brutal life lesson in choice, actions and consequences.  There is no moral high ground or hidden agenda to a story like this…just awareness… because for me, ever since that day, I always have the thought... “what happens when…”  What happens when I buy something on sale, too good to pass up, that was made in Bangladesh, Vietnam, or China? What is the retail markup on something that is on sale for a price that is too good to be true? How is that product being made, who’s making it?… What happens when I order food to my table or my door? Where did it come from? What happens when I subscribe to streaming services month after month, for years, that are owned by a company that is owned by bigger companies that invest in Global Warfare? What am I actually “paying for?  Who is dying when those bombs are dropped, or those weapons are fired? What happens when I stop thinking… stop “Thanking” for the conveniences, the sacrifices.  

 It is all too easy to drift further from identification, relation, empathy and compassion, to forget the faces and lives interwoven with our own, as the world grows busier and ever more systematized. 

And yet, despite it all—despite the noise, the darkness, the machinery of complacency—I can’t abandon the hope that goodness remains. I still believe that the light within us, however faint at times, longs to be recognized, honored, and shared. Maybe the truest form of #resistance in these times is to nurture that light, in ourselves and in one another, and to remember that even in this fractured world, hope and shared humanity are not fantasies, but possibilities worth choosing, again and again.

I don’t know what the answer is in today’s world …but I do know that we are all deeply connected…whether you believe it or not.  And the only way things change is if we all agree that things must change.  Until then…we will always be at war.  Two sides screaming at each other; No one listening; everyone wanting so desperately to be heard.  That’s the problem now…. The world is so loud.  That’s what social media has done… It's created so much noise, and we try to filter through it, but the algorithms don’t give us breaks…not like before. In the beginning, the promise of social media was all about connection….research what Zuckerberg originally said about what “Facebook” was for. It started as a way to connect … Fast forward to today, and it’s all about Discord… (that's an interesting name for a platform, isn't it? Food for thought) 

“Social Media”…. post a picture of your kids' first day of school so that your parents who live in a different province could see pictures of their grandbabies and feel a sense of connection and pride….now those children are targeted by someone who found out they have a preferred name or the friends and loves they keep…so the volume gets louder. Then we see that the mother posted about her entrepreneurial success or the job promotion she received and the celebration retreat she is going to take …we all of a sudden feel unseen, unheard, underappreciated because we are working so hard in the home to raise our children right, how can that mother leave her kids and go to work….disgusting-that’s not what a mother does! So, we share our thoughts on her post, and she is devastated by our comments, and so her husband comes to her defence and comments on how we as a stay-at-home mom are a “trophy Trad-Wife”….disgrace… how pathetic… The comments that build from here go on to blame the working mother for the fact that her child uses pronouns- "poor kid is so confused she doesn’t even know who she is"- what a horrible mother….and so on and so on and so on….all the while we were all just looking for connection…to not feel so alone…

Now, it’s not even real people chiming in… it's Bots…. stirring the pot, making it harder and harder to hear…harder and harder to even know what is real.  This is how everyone is spending their time…so “connected” (hand gesture of holding a phone and posting to socials) that they are totally disconnected….no one is listening to each other. There is so much anger, and we all just want to be heard.  We all want our pain to be acknowledged to know that we are not alone; except we are so angry and hurt by what we are hearing that we aren’t listening to the truth behind the words that are being spewed…behind that vile rhetoric is pain…that pain is the fuel that feeds the engine driving us forward at extremely high speeds. 

I have often said, “What happened to the days where we, family, friends, foe, politicians and world leaders could sit at the round table and hold conversations with disagreements without going to war!”  We have stopped listening to each other…instead, we weaponize ancient biblical texts that have been trimmed down, translated and rewritten to build upon a narrative that fuels and feeds a powerful machine of destruction and division, and in its wake is our shared humanity.

I don’t know the answer.  I don’t know how to change what’s happening, I don’t know how to stall the engine or steer us in a different direction…I don’t know what to say….But I choose to believe that we are all connected…that there is the same spark at inception…all we have to do is clear a path to allow for ignition, and I believe that begins with listening…compassionate listening…. which leads to connection, which reminds us to see and honour the light that has been dimmed... but connects us all. 

“In every soul, there is a pure light, and when we acknowledge that light in others, it is called Namaste.

May I always be reminded that the pure light of the Divine resides within the soul of every being.  May I always be reminded of the interconnectedness of all things. May I always recognize that the space which is shared between the souls of all beings is sacred.  May I forever be reminded to respect and honour that sacred space with reverence, compassion, and love.

 May you always be reminded that the pure light of the Divine resides within the soul of every being.  May you always be reminded of the interconnectedness of all things. May you always recognize that the space which is shared between the souls of all beings is sacred.  May you forever be reminded to respect and honour that sacred space with reverence, compassion, and love.”

In Kindness and with Love,

Jessica