As more details come in about the Vegas massacre, the question we keep hearing everyone ask is “What was his motive?” Although it helps to make sense of terrorist attacks when we know what they are driven by – does it ever really make sense? Does it make sense that the GOP wants to legalize more guns, and not less and allow the NRA more control? We are in a “will it ever end?” place now. Maybe banning the ownership of guns altogether is not the answer. Maybe the current concealed carry gun laws might make more sense if enforced with tighter vigilance, background checks before issuing weapons, and a limit on number and type of weapons (among other measures that can be taken.) But maybe the problem is not the rules at all, because when terrorists want to brew up trouble, they find a way to do it. We are all still reeling from the shock; we are all at least slightly scared. We are in the place where we no longer want our kids to ‘find themselves’ in Europe after college, or even follow the millennials version of the Dead on the road across the Good ‘Ole USA. Nowhere is safe now, and words are needed to attempt to understand. What do we do now? Where do we go from here in a country where any lunatic can purchase a militia?
Kris Carr weighed in;
Yesterday morning I began our weekly staff meeting with a prayer for the people affected by the mass shooting in Las Vegas. I prayed for the victims and families and for the first responders and caregivers. I asked for their grief, trauma and devastation to be healed swiftly and that they be made stronger along the fault lines of their heartbreak.
I also prayed for more compassionate, brave leaders to have the courage to run for office in order to shape policies and protect people, animals and our holy planet. And I prayed for us to recognize and support these leaders anyway we can.
Finally, I prayed for each and every one of us to double down on our own commitment to elevating our consciousness. Now more than ever (and ever before that) we’re being challenged to step up and get our spiritual shit together. We’re called to turn our inner lights on and unapologetically shine them all over the world so we can root out violence, oppression, inequality, racism and fear.
………
My soul suffers every time I turn on the news, and I bet yours does too. So let’s do something about it. Stay positive and make a move. What rips your heart into action? Start there. And keep your eye on the long game. We’re not going to fix our problems overnight-stamina is required. You’re smart, resourceful and resilient. You’ve got dollars (which means you get to decide where you shop and which corporations get your hard-earned cash), you’ve got a voice and you’ve got votes-use them.
This morning’s email (and subsequent facebook posting) from SARK also helped us to understand where we go forward:
Here we all are in America, and the world, reeling over the shootings in Las Vegas. There are so many feelings to feel;
Outrage, horror, despair and helplessness, as well as gratefull for all the people helped and helping.
Of course we wonder what we can actually do, beyond offering prayers, thoughts or energy- which are good, and they stop short. They stop short because we think it won’t actually ever happen to us. It’s too hard to imagine so we don’t.
During these past 18 months of my deeply grieving and wildly living after the death of my beloved fiancé John, one of the sentences I’ve heard most often from people is;
“I can’t imagine what you must be going through.”
I understand. I used to say it too.
It is unfathomable to try to imagine immense pain that one hasn’t experienced personally. It is also a way to acknowledge outright that you do not actually know how it feels for someone else.
Yet I believe that we actually can imagine. And this is actually far more interesting.
I believe that we know in our bones and our DNA, how horrific everything can be. We know from past and future lives, we are informed by our ancestors, we are shown in dreams.
We are not immunized by having not lost a particular thing- we are aware that it will be our turn, and “I can’t imagine what you must be going through” is a kind of hopefull sandbag that the rising tide- of whatever loss it is-won’t reach us.
And of course it will reach us.
A more accurate statement would be;
“I can imagine what you must be going through and it terrifies me down into my deepest soul. I wish this had not happened to you and I hope it never happens to me.”
Or, “I can imagine and it breaks my heart open to overflowing.”
And, “Through my imagining of your pain I am exquisitely connected to you forever.”
Whatever your expressions are, or aren’t, is okay. Just know that you can and do imagine, and that your imagination is a tremendous gift. It moves beyond thoughts and prayers and joins with the people experiencing whatever the thing is. Your imagination also connects you to action, and action creates new things.
If we all take new actions, we will cause change. It may not arrive soon enough to be satisfying, or even in our lifetime, but it will arrive. So let your prayers, thoughts and energy move you to do something you haven’t done before, and don’t assess that it’s “not enough.” The only not enough is no-thing.
DO SOMETHING.
REPEAT.
We all live in a moving illusion that everything and everyone will stay the same, and be safe, all while we absolutely know that at some point that they will not.
Holding both of these awarenesses simultaneously is both terrible and wonderfull, and the art of blending them together is an opportunity available to each one of us. We are each ordinary alchemists, blending our terribles and wonderfulls, into something new to love.
Our imaginations are the vehicles to understanding all of it- we can and do imagine it all, and we continue on.
See you in the continuing of the new doings and in the paradox of it all.
Love, SARK
And so now, in this space of shock, morning, and incredibility – we do our part – vote, volunteer, and be kind.
Remember;
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
? Dr. Seuss, The Lorax