Own Your Sovereignty
... and definitely don't give it away
Dear Ones,
I know how hard the past few weeks have been.
The new federal administration of the United States has set off bomb after bomb, since it was seated into power — over 100 of them, at this point.
Of course these weeks have been hard in the U.S. — at the epicenter of these explosions — but I know they’ve been hard far beyond the U.S. too.
My friend Caroline, leading an international development field office in West Africa, has been struggling through “bleak” (her word) times, and I’ve heard of international spots where life-saving water just suddenly stopped flowing. Eight days in from the stoppage, the deaths have surely started. Just two examples of many.
Worldwide, the federal spending freeze is imperiling countless lives.
And SO many of the other recent actions of this government are threatening them too.
A non-binary friend in Missouri is fearing for their family’s life and health, wondering how they’ll live day-to-day, attempting to chart their course out of the country to more relative safety, but knowing that that will be an extremely hard and long road.
Friends at nonprofits across the country are scrambling, trying to figure out how to keep helping folks access food… housing… and other forms of care, knowing that all this help will have to cease in a matter of days, if nothing changes.
SO many of you, my beloved comrades, are furious, fearful, anxious, scrambling, crying, worried, grieving… and more.
You’re frozen.
Or you’re running around.
Or you’re fighting.
Or all of the above.
I feel you.
And I care about you.
And I want you to get through this.
That is what my message to you (below) is about.
With Love,
Cecelia 💗
PS:
If you’re looking for even more perspective — some that may help you feel a bit more grounded and aware of what’s happening… and how to respond — go to this link and watch the video. In thirteen minutes, you should have a much better sense of it all. Thank you for your clarity, Ezra.
As I wrote last week, our representative democracy in the United States is actually a form of philanthropy:
There are no individuals in a country.
A country is a collective — by definition.
And in a representative democracy like ours, the collective of a country organizes itself, and cares for itself, via this thing we call government.
In other words, government is the means by which we the people care for ourselves, and each other.
Did you catch that?
Let’s say it again.
Government is the means by which we the people care for ourselves, and each other. In other words, government is philanthropy.
Remember what we’re about, here at For the Love of Humanity.
Remember: the roots of the word philanthropy are Greek: philos, meaning love (think Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love”), and anthropos, meaning humanity (think anthropology, or the scientific study of humanity).
Remember, as we’re saying here: government is the means by which we are able to care for each other, at scale.
There is small-scale community care — within neighborhoods, within families, within friend circles. There is larger-scale community care — within entities organized to distribute care in larger systems, like the nonprofit sector.
And the ultimate system of care?
The one capable of the largest scale? The most comprehensive coverage? The biggest collections of effective resources to deploy?
Government.
We need to stop thinking of philanthropy as something apart from government… and government as something apart from philanthropy.
Government is philanthropy.
However, our U.S. government has been enacting anything but philanthropy lately.
Chaos is Reigning
Since the inauguration on January 20th, chaos has been reigning.
I’d say it’s been reigning in the United States, but the ramifications of this chaos have been reverberating worldwide.
Bomb after bomb has been thrown.
Boom: U.S. international aid abruptly ends.
Boom: our trans and non-binary siblings get a bullet to the heart.
Boom: they get another bullet to the heart.
Boom: our neighbors fleeing from violent and unstable countries, thinking they were finding relative stability and safety in a place where they had heard “freedom rings,” are suddenly overwhelmed with violence and instability again — making them profoundly unsafe, yet again — in a place where freedom isn’t exactly ringing.
Boom: those of us working in the philanthropic field are suddenly faced with an existential crisis threatening that not only our important work, but our very livelihoods, could completely disappear in moments.
Boom: all of the people we help every day are shockingly faced with that help evaporating completely, in days… or weeks… and thus hunger, homelessness, increased illness without necessary medications, and more absolutely frightening scenarios… are on the horizon.
Boom: more violence.
Boom: more cruelty.
Boom: more threats, underscored by an apparent complete lack of empathy.
The bombs have just kept going off.
Chaotic.
Bleak.
Shocking.
Traumatic.
Apocalyptic.
These are all words people have been using to refer to this time.
And yes.
They’re apt.
But that’s not the end of this story.
Don’t forget: you are an author, here…
… just as much as those wreaking this havoc are.
Own Your Sovereignty
Chaos can’t reign… if it doesn’t reign in you.
Or in the person next to you.
Or in the one next to them.
What is the key word, in that sentiment?
> IN <
Chaos can’t reign… if it doesn’t reign IN you.
No, you can’t control what the U.S. government does.
No, you can’t control the budgets of all the organizations you love.
No, you can’t save everyone who’s threatened right now — even yourself.
What can you control?
Your energy.
Your being:
that spot of earth over which you are sovereign.
Your body — and the spiritual, energetic being that powers it — is a spot of Earth over which you have absolute sovereignty.
But do you live that way?
I’m guessing not.
Because I see so few humans living that way.
And guess what that means?
That means that we’re all handing our power away. We’re looking outside of ourselves for everything we need. We’re letting things outside of us determine our moods… our thoughts… our feelings… our emotions… our state of being.
And our state of being, in turn, continues affecting and shaping the world around us… and our ongoing experience of it…
… and so it goes.
We’re in a sort of sick vicious cycle…
… when instead, we could be actively cultivating a virtuous cycle of groundedness… peace… love… care… wisdom… clarity.
If we do that, it will absolutely affect our ongoing experiences…
… and the world around us…
… for the better.
And the “powers that be” will realize where the true power lies.
I Speak From Experience
To be clear, I’m not talking about spiritual bypassing here.
I’m talking about having a clear-eyed look at whatever difficult thing you’re facing… assessing it fully… seeing its full import… and responding in ways that are necessary… but that are not giving it any extra power.
The last time I did this especially effectively was when I faced a cancer diagnosis. My life was truly threatened. But you wouldn’t have known it, just from looking at me.
I was calm.
I was joyful.
I was present.
What wasn’t I?
Anxious. Stressed. Fearful.
Cheryl, my healing touch practitioner, would shake her head at me.
Given the fact that one of her practice’s specialties is working with folks in treatment for cancer, she had worked with lots of folks in my shoes over the years. And she said she had never really seen someone be so calm and at peace. She said people were usually buzzing with anxiety.
And I mean, I get it!
I absolutely get it.
Makes sense.
Totally understandable.
But I didn’t want that for myself — not only because I didn’t want that to be my day-to-day experience of life… but also because, given my experiences with (and study of) integrative wellness over the years, I was well aware of how destructive anxiety and fear can be to the body.
Here I was, with my body about as ill as it had ever been. Why would I ever want to contribute to making it more ill by soaking it in anxiety?
I wanted to soak, instead, in LOVE.
Peace.
Light.
Joy.
I wanted my body and spirit to become more whole.
I wanted, in short, to heal.
And I knew that healing would be completely short-circuited in my body, if I let stress and fear and anxiety reign within it.
I also knew that love… and peace… and light… and joy… are quite literally the means by which healing happens.
So.
I actively cultivated the latter.
Via meditation.
And deep breathing.
And yoga.
And acupuncture.
And healing touch.
And regular walks in nature.
And laughter.
And hugs…
…and and and…
… and I want you to do the same now.
Are you ready?
What Story Are You Writing?
Remember: you are an author in this story.
This is a collective story.
We’re writing it together.
You are not just a supporting character.
You are co-authoring this story.
So: what story are you writing?
To help inspire you in your authorship, I want you to imagine a story with me for a minute.
Imagine that a self-obsessed despot takes power in a country, and he labels it his “kingdom.” Imagine he starts wreaking havoc — trying to rile the people of the country up… trying to distract them… trying to knock them on their behinds… because he knows that he’ll be likely to absorb even more power that way.
And rather than reacting the way he wants and expects them to, the people of the country continue on their merry way.
They get up every morning, and they continue loving and caring for each other.
They grow and share food.
They raise their children with joy.
They are grateful for everything they have.
They continue to build ever-stronger bonds between them.
They see his impetuous tantrums and nod to each other. If any of them see fallout from a tantrum coming their way, they alert the others nearest them, and they all collaborate to mitigate its effects.
And then they go about their lives again.
They create their own kingdom.
Their kingdom is peaceful.
Their kingdom is joyful.
Their kingdom is powered by love and care.
And before long, the would-be “king” moves on to another country, to see if he can conquer that one instead. He has realized that he can’t get what he wants in that country — that it will never, ever be “his” kingdom.
What do you think of this story?
Is this one you would write?
Or would you write something completely different?
Own Your Power
We don’t live in a kingdom.
We live in a democracy — a representative democracy, which means that you are totally and absolutely an author of this country’s story.
Don’t give your power away.
Don’t give your sovereignty away.
No reality prevails… if it’s not prevailing within you. And me. And all of us.
We need to accept something for it to become reality.
Don’t accept what you don’t want.
And wield your power to create what you do want.
So.
What’ll it be, friends?
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Thank you for being here!
💗
I've just gotten around to reading this now, and it has me teary eyed. For the first time in weeks, I really feel like there is something specific I can do that will really matter. Thank you.