Positive Change written by guest writer: Cassie Clark
I wrote this entry about a month before the George Floyd murder and BLM riots. Looking back now and educating myself further through black voices and history that have been easily accessible through those sharing it today, I was brought back to this entry. It makes me think once again how there have been such terrible atrocious acts against humanity. So many truly sad and disheartening truths about what many throughout time have done to their neighbor. Change is happening all around us on so many levels. It’s up to us to make it positive, to love each other truly and selflessly, and ultimately share happiness.
The other night, I finally took some time out of my usual routine and picked up an article that one of my friends had given to me last year. He urged me to read it because it’s one of his favorite writings, and one of the most important writings in American history that he often uses as a teaching source. This famous writing is the, “Letter From Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. The letter speaks of very specific instances, events, and struggles of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, but I found the wisdom and words written about God, humanity, positive change, and justice to be far-reaching, and foreshadowing.
Several quotes from this letter struck me to compare to today. He writes of tension being used for growth saying, “Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.” He speaks of how many would rather remain in a state of segregation, a state of low human consciousness, rather than change the status quo, telling of how many stated it’s just not the right timing- to which he points out that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”
As I read through this thought provoking piece, I began thinking of the writings and teachings of Eesha, and her points made on the prejudices of patriarchal church leaders, the oppression of Mary Magdalen and women at the time of Jesus, and the long line of effect that continues to this day due to the church’s persistence in keeping women “in their place” and out of leadership. Quite frankly, hiding the truth and power of the Divine Feminine, starving the people of their spiritual rights, creating fear around obedience to God and church laws and therefore controlling the status quo for centuries.
Martin Luther King Jr. in this same piece expresses his disappointment in the churches at the time and his fear for churches in the future due to their lack of support towards their brothers and sisters in faith. He too saw the hypocrisies of the churches preaching love your neighbor, but wait... only if they were white. We now see this today as a continued reality. Today’s world is a result of the continuation of a half-truth, the effect of preventing spiritual freedom. The cycle now is breaking, the shift of consciousness is happening in our world and it’s thanks to the heart beat of so many good people throughout history that have pushed for positive change, or challenged the status quo because of their moral conscious kicking in, because of a deep knowing of what is right.
Today we are presented with another heartbeat pushing for positive change and challenging the status quo by going back to the very beginning of humanity and calling out the discrimination, the cover-ups, and the misunderstandings. I believe every soul should be awakened, every mind should be pulled from what has become everyday life and turned on to start thinking- really thinking. To not just use the buzz words of today to create an appearance of enlightenment or morality like tolerance or solidarity, but to think for themselves and really find what they believe, what makes them feel truly alive, or in love, and or balanced. To be able to identify truth despite programming. It takes this tension in the mind and spirit that Martin Luther King Jr. wrote of to change the status quo. If we start thinking for ourselves again, we just may begin to find the truth within us.