I’ll Take Door Number 2, Please
Civics 2.0
Hello, lovely humanoids, and welcome to another weekend! As we cruise toward some rest and relaxation, I’m dishing about doorways into something larger than ourselves. This post isn’t religious per se, but it is asking you to think about what you believe in that is bigger than playing Monopoly, eating Mars bars, and buying loads of merch. If you’re game, read on.
Before we find out what’s behind Door Number 2, let’s grab a heaping helping of Inspo!
Today’s Inspiration: We all need to see the good that is constantly happening in our world, so we have a round-up of inspiring stories from the KarunaNews website. The links take you to a short summary and offer the option to read the entire story. While these stories aren’t all new, they are compelling and connected.
Refugees Needed Jobs. Tayybeh Cooked Up A Solution (karunanews.org)
One WA School District Helped Homeless Students Graduate. Can Others? (karunanews.org)
Professional Tree Climber Rescues Cats From Tall Trees (karunanews.org)
Preschool On Wheels Drives Opportunity To Immigrant Families (karunanews.org)
Today’s Probing Question: What’s your doorway of choice into love and unity?
I contend that to “Level Up” the human species and build the kinder world that we long for, we humans need to see ourselves as part of a larger and larger community; we need to expand our sense of who (or what) counts as part of “us” and thus matters.
We are challenged to bring greater love for each other and greater compassion into our ways of seeing, being, and acting in the world.
We humans are at our best, and happiest, when we are held in a web of supportive relationships and when we help anchor that web for others. No one of us can be complete without helping others grow and thrive. Martin Luther King Jr. said it very well in this quote:
“All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be... This is the inter-related structure of reality.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
Assuming this is indeed the case, my question for you is, “What gets you there?” Your doorway of choice can be a religion, it can be secular humanism, it can be your own philosophy or belief system, or it could be a non-belief system I suppose. What matters is that you have a doorway that gets you there.
Strengthening our connection to the doorway that gets us there helps cement our commitment to these ways of being - love, compassion, and unity.
Take Action:
Take a few minutes now to reflect on what “there” means to you.
Then, consider different doorways you have tried and what, if anything, is your current doorway.
Next, reflect on how you access that doorway and what the result is.
If you feel moved, please share a comment about anything in your reflections that feels really resonant for you right now.
For example, I believe in a universe in which we are all part of “all that is,” the essence of which is love. I connect to that in my daily meditation.
As a result of cultivating that connection, I recommit to being kind, loving and patient with myself and others every day. This intention guides me through my days and, I hope, helps me be a positive contributor to a kinder world. I, of course, slip up and make plenty of mistakes. I’m definitely not perfect. That’s the reality of being human.
By being intentional about our practices for connecting with something larger than ourselves, we strengthen our access to these ways of being, including love, compassion and unity and bring more of these into the world.
Colleen Osborne is a Coach, Facilitator, and Qi Gong Instructor who lives in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. She is on a mission to Level Up, both herself and the human species.
Beautiful post! I get there on nature walks where I feel the interconnection between me, the trees, the sun, etc.