What the world needs now…?

Many moons ago, when I was finding life particularly tough, I took solace in the auditory arms of three people. I credit these people with saving my life or, at the very least, my sanity. And, all those many moons ago, I found myself writing about what they taught me, right here on this blog. 

Life, somewhat less frenetic and distressing, took over and off I tootled for some years without much of a backward glance at those mental meanderings. My littlest was diagnosed with autism, a house-move and ‘new life’ kept us all focused and distracted, and the years passed.

Then, a short while ago, a new friend rather randomly stumbled across rightmotherhood, shared one of my old articles, and sparked my synapses into action once more (however briefly, I don’t yet know of course!)

See, although I’m personally struggling a little with the world as it is right now, a large part of the reason for that is because the world itself is struggling. Like, a lot. With global viral outbreak, political unrest and the division that both are causing at the most basic and fundamental levels of society, not only dividing countries, but, at the other end of the scale, families too; and with all of that invading our lives on a daily basis, through this mixed blessing we call the internet; with conflicting stories from everywhere, and no clear idea of who or what to believe any more, my own mental and emotional wellbeing are being adversely affected alongside everyone else’s. It’s huge.

So, a couple of weeks back, knowing I had to drive a fair distance and that, alone in the car, this would be a really good opportunity to listen to something grounding and inspiring (grounding and inspiring. I like that. Feet firmly anchored, while the soul is lifted…) and I looked up, for the first time in years, the very first person to aid my recovery: Reverend Kusala Bhikshu.

And I’ve been listening to him on and off, whenever precious headspace allows (which, with lots of lovely boys and a national lockdown, is rather less often than I might perhaps desire). And he is soothing my soul.

I tell you all this for two reasons:

1. If you haven’t encountered him and feel in need of some soul food, please: look him up. He has podcasts aplenty and his gentle sense of humour, whilst discussing themes of great import, is refreshing and uplifting, and
2. Today, in a snippet I managed to listen to whilst collecting number 3 son from the bus stop, he uttered these words (more or less – I can’t remember verbatim and I was driving, so I couldn’t jot it down): diversity and unity, not uniformity.

Now, the reason this struck me as so very important (and forgive me if I’m not entirely lucid on this, but it’s still really the germ of a thought, but I just wanted to throw it ‘out there’ for more exploration), is because of the terrifying polarisation we are witnessing in our societies. We must lean one way and one way only, “as long as it’s MY way”. The anger and aggression aimed at those who take a different view, people we know nothing about, whose lives and experiences are a mystery to us, is breathtaking. The dehumanising of those who feel, think or believe differently is beyond distressing. We must, apparently, all think and feel the SAME. Anyone who doesn’t have the same view as the person expressing his or hers is an idiot (at best!)

As an aside, I listened to Brene Brown recently, who was discussing this idea that ‘You are either with  me or against me’, there is no middle ground. Of course there is middle ground. Of course there is room for uncertainty and doubt, for humility and investigation. And of course it is utterly fallacious to suggest that just because I disagree with you, I am your enemy.

I’m going to come back to this when I’ve had more time to work it through, but for now, my immediate response to this “diversity and unity, not uniformity” was this: I can still love you, even if I don’t agree with you.

I’m not sure anything is more important right now.