Turning Toward the Light

Frenetic preparations to hit the road for holiday family visits usually makes the passing of the solstice a blur. It has been no different this year, except for the added spiritual darkness felt by so many who are struggling in the financial and political darkness that has befallen our country and the world.

I was glancing through a column posted on Huffington Post by a self-proclaimed conservative blogger and skipped ahead, as I am more and more inclined to do, to look at reader comments, wanting to know what ordinary people like me are thinking.

I came upon this prayer posted by a reader who goes by the moniker freedom4allau.

Divine Universal Creator, Mother / Father God - on the eve of this, the day the masses celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and some of us celebrate Winter Solstice, a deep abiding prayer / meditation that this country may begin a new path of understanding, enlightenment and healing.

I was moved to post this response:

Thanks to freedom4allau for the universal prayer.

The clash of the titans tone of our conflict is as out of proportion to real life as the mythic battles between the Greek or Roman gods. Our elected officials, like Mickey in the Sorcerer's Apprentice seem powerful and scary when we focus on the over-sized shadow cast by the bright lights we shine on them. They also make quite a mess when let loose with the magic wand of governmental power.

But we need to remember that a larger wisdom will eventually reveal the mouse-sized stature of today's supposed gods and monsters. They too are ordinary humans, with no special insight and only the power granted to them by the people's collective will.

We can not wait for the Sorcerer in the cartoon to come and clean up the mess.

That character represents the spirit of good that lives in all of us. The greater wisdom, knowledge and compassion we see in him is real, but it lies beyond any one person alone. We feel it any time we notice the spiritual sustenance we take from witnessing or performing loving acts of generosity and kindness.

Thanks for the prayer, to remind all of us that we have the choice to put down our swords, to not be tricked into doing battle with one another. We can choose to return again and again to our faith in our potential to find our way through to something better.