It is the day after Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing.  My thoughts are swirling into a vortex of emotions, opinions, and events. The particles of the vortex are beginning to link and take a consistent form – a form that leads me to the center. The void. Where everything comes together and there is no longer separation.

Justice Ginsburg fought her entire career for equality.  Equality for EVERYONE. She was a staunch feminist who also championed equal rights for men.  She fought for love to be recognized regardless of who the partners loved or how they looked.  She advocated for recognition of love without boundaries.

As she battled illness to continue her work, separation was promoted by varying groups over many platforms.

“…”winning” takes precedence over constructive dialog, listening, understanding, and compromise. This occurs from a national level all the way to our own families and social circles.”

(Breath, June 2020)

Arguments, degradation, judgement, violence. Are we using freedom of speech to foster connection or division? True equality is acceptance and acknowledgement of the other.  Whether our opinions, beliefs, or politics agree is inconsequential. That allowance does not justify harm or judgement of another.  It creates respect and neutrality.  Between separation there is a middle place…the place where we find unity in our differences.  Unity in our individuality. A commUnity of sovereign beings.

And yet we are allowing forces to increase the wedge between us.

Even Mother Nature is highlighting this divide. The entire West Coast of our country is being decimated by wildfires.  An estimated 6.7 million acres have been burned so far in 2020. Air quality is the worst on record for the West Coast.  Now millions of people, no matter their politics or beliefs cannot breathe.

On the East Coast, an unprecedented number of tropical storms have formed already this season in the Atlantic Ocean. Impact to the gulf and southeastern states has been destructive and widespread.  Large areas leveled by hurricane force winds or tornadoes and flooded by storm surge and heavy rainfall. We have another 72 days left in the season still.

Hurricanes, tornadoes, waterspouts, fire tornadoes…all vortexes.  Where do we find the quiet, the peace, the stillness? In the center.  As the chaos flies around us, the center is where we find solace and security. The Universe leaves us giant breadcrumbs we continue to ignore.

Our country faces a swirling maelstrom of natural and human created forces. How long will we attempt to stand in the storm? Eventually the storm will die, and we will fall to the center, but why not make the choice to step into it consciously?  Why not minimize the battering to our bodies and souls? To our country? The more we move toward acceptance of each other, the closer we are to the center. Ignoring politics, celebrating our individuality, recognizing our interconnectedness, recreating our commUnity. Reaching out to each other in mutual respect, love, and kindness.  Let us use the lifelong efforts of Justice Ginsburg as our foundation. This is my vision as we honor her legacy.