The core struggle of America will continue to revolve around issues of inclusion and exclusion. That struggle will provide the heat needed to change and grow and can generate the grieving necessary to heal. Conflicts don't end until the grief engendered has been fully felt. Meaningful conflict opens the doors of grief where the wounds of the soul wait to be washed. Oppositions heat the psyche and move obstacles, but sorrow must follow and wash the soul clean again.
Conflict ends on the ground of grief where the losses are counted and the wounds of the soul washed. The greatest conflicts occur where the felt sense of the sacred has been lost. One reason that wars don't seem to end and treaties never last is because peace is a sacred agreement. Unless something sacred enters in, agreements revert to conflicts rather easily. Some sacrifice is required to make things whole and holy again. The modern world is awash with unresolved conflicts and unconscious sacrifices that don't return the sacred to the world.
(Michael Meade, The Water of Life, 360)
Leny, I was just thinking the other day how every day life in American families is losing the sacred... People don't go to church anymore because they don't experience the sacred anymore there... they're not connecting with it there... families don't say grace over meals anymore---meals aren't sacred anymore... kids get stuck in front of the TV or video games like Call of Duty where they kill for points... killing your enemy is no longer a sacred act of protection and honoring the death of your enemy is no longer part of the equation... "modern life" really can sanitize out the sacred of everyday life. as a Fil-Am mother of children who have a Filipino mom and an American dad, I struggle to keep the sacred in our family and home... it is so so difficult... my mother being around as the Lola in our semi-extended family in this household has been a strength in keeping the sacred in our life... i don't always listen to her, but she always reminds me and always reinforces sacred acts in this home.
ReplyDelete