Conflict is quite natural. How we let ourselves be affected by the
conflict ---- we have choice here. My experience is that it can
be considerably difficult for individuals -- like me -- to put a
check on one's defensiveness.
We only free ourselves more when we let go.
Letting go of our fear, our strong sense of individuality, will
power.
Letting all of this let go of its blinding grip on us.
But then saying it is okay still to have fear, to be defensive, to
exert our will.
But to see beyond it, to have a center within us that knows we
are okay without any of it. Self-acceptance and self-love, the self
in its barest and glorious essence. Always coming back home in
this boundless love.
So, there is disagreement on where to have the gathering. Perhaps
there should be more than one gathering, I don't know. But it
seems premature, maybe since I am so new to the scene. I imagine
that every year for the past twenty years there has been
divisiveness.
All I truly hope for is that we give up the personal grudges for the
sake of nurturing the shy and forgiving compassion that bubbles
as us, becoming as us as we let ourselves explore.
Particularly I hope we'll see the greatest possibilities in each
other, knowing we aren't static -- we evolve and change and can do
so many creative acts of love and destruction.
I hope there isn't too much of the "us and them", i.e. the enemy
is trying to crush us. Although I still think it is important to be
aware of where each of us is coming from.
This idea that the government would like to have this be the last
gathering ever... it gives them something to do, I suppose. Do you
know who is behind this push, at the core?