Browsing the archives for the Robert V. Taylor tag

5 Jul 12

Illegal Immigrants Celebrating July Fourth?

by Robert V. Taylor

Robert V. TaylorThis blog first appeared in Huffington Post, July 3 2012

When I was an illegal immigrant I celebrated Independence Day as if it were a spiritual holiday. In the charged rhetoric about Latino immigration our national conversation could benefit from re-imagining our unalienable rights. Our values and moral compass would be deepened by viewing the pursuit of life, liberty and justice through the lens of our mutual pursuit of inter-dependence.

Now a citizen of this country, my pride in being part of the American enterprise of democracy is shaped by how I experienced the United States as an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1970s. The Carter administration’s emphasis on human rights as a touchstone of U.S. foreign policy filled many of us fighting oppressive regimes with hope and inspiration. Advocating for human rights abroad needs to become part of a seamless approach including the inalienable rights of those within the United States.

After receiving notice that my application for residency had been denied, a seasoned immigration attorney advised me to go about my life in New York while he resolved the issue. He told me that because I was not Latino or a black West African immigrant I had little to fear about being identified as illegal. It was a startling insight to me in the mid-1980s. Sadly it is still true for many whose lives are a vital part of our country.

As my illegal alien status was reviewed I wondered if the “self-evident truths” that all “are created equal” came with a double standard. Today, the twelve million undocumented Latino immigrants who are among the core workforce of the agricultural and hospitality industries continue to live with an abiding fear of the implications of inequality.

The ideal and promise of equality is more than a holy grail. Our founding document galvanizes the aspirations and hopes of immigrants and new citizens. We believe in the promise. Like U.S. citizens, we do not wish for a promised land in some after-life. We expect to be full citizens, inter-dependent with Americans of every stripe in the present, rather than cheap shots for uncourageous hapless leaders.

Foreigners often observe that Americans are self-absorbed and engaged in the enterprise of self. In contrast to many places around the world, from Iran to North Korea, the individual pursuit of life, liberty and happiness is a cherished defining value of being an American. The Founding Fathers had a perspective much larger than libertarianism or narcissism.

The final paragraph of the Declaration of Independence is seldom quoted and not well known. “With a firm reliance on Divine Providence we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortune and our sacred honor.” The signers understood that we are all in this together — this building and renewing of the world’s most envied democratic endeavor. Our collective struggles over slavery, women’s suffrage and civil rights all tested, challenged and enriched the promise of July 4th. The struggles for gender equality, LGBT rights and those of Muslim-Americans along with Latino immigration continue to invite us to a discourse that has the potential to reveal the vibrancy of our democracy.

The “mutual pledge to each other” of the Declaration of Independence becomes more deeply valued, even sacred, when we expand our understanding of who among us is fully included in the American promise. The full inclusion of all probes the promises that undergird our July 4th barbecues and parades.

I was one of the fortunate few provided with a first class immigration attorney whose skill transformed my “illegal alien” status to “resident alien” on my eventual path to U.S. citizenship. It does not matter what sort of “alien” you are called, you are effectively labeled separate, different and not “one of us.”

The mutual pledging of our lives, fortune and honor to one another is how the signers of the Declaration of Independence concluded their vision of who we would become as a new independent nation. That promise is as urgent today as it was then.

Instead of replacing our unique emphasis on individual liberty, we enrich it by seeking a politics of commonalities. In an increasingly diverse United States, a commitment to honor the dignity of our differences deepens the values of our founding principles.

July Fourth reverberates with the promises of many wisdom traditions which speak about the sacredness and inestimable value of every human being. American ingenuity combined with the self evident truths which shape us demand a richer, fuller and more vibrant understanding of who is part of America. The Founding Fathers might be surprised by including Latino immigrants into our common life. They would surely smile on the courage, leadership and vibrancy of revisiting the mutual pledge to who we are in this democracy. What remains to be seen is if we have leaders who are up to such a courageous and fulsome vision.

Join the conversation – post your reactions and comments below

Robert’s new book A New Way to be Human is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and your local Indie bookstore

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17 Jun 12

Slaying Emotional Vampires

by Robert V. Taylor

Robert V. Taylor

This blog first appeared on Huffington Post, June 12, 2012

Emotional Vampires are drawn to people with positive energy, insatiably soul-sucking your words and energy. They’re toxic and you do nothing positive to help them or yourself when you succumb to their insatiable needs. Detachment is good for you both.

It was a chilling question from the person who asked if I would get real and talk about slaying the emotional vampires in our lives. Slaying conjured up images of a drone attack or a video game. It conveyed an aggressive hostility that is at odds with detachment.

I responded by telling a story. When I first arrived in the United States I knew that I could not return home to South Africa because of my refusal to serve in the military that enforced apartheid at the time. For my own well-being I understood that I needed to create an extended family from scratch in my new home.

Shaun was one of those whom I believed would be part of this new family. My proactive engagement with him brought with it a slowly dawning consciousness that his energy was life-sapping. On my weekly calls to Shaun I would listen to a litany of complaints about those who had wronged, injured or offended him in some way that week. I would unthinkingly move into rescue mode and offer suggestions for how he might engage differently with the world around him.

After many months it dawned on me that the phone calls were unidirectional and that Shaun had little interest in making different choices in his life. In a moment of new awareness I realized that not only could I not save or rescue him but, all importantly, that was not my job! His toxicity was poisonous to me and my well-being as much as it was to him. I was in the presence of a soul-sucker.

Almost thirty years ago, it became my first intentional experience of detachment. I offered our acquaintanceship and the intention for Shaun’s well-being to the Universe. With love I released this relationship hoping that he would in time seek his highest good. It was a liberating moment for me. I later learned that it was for him too, free at last of listening to my well-intentioned advice!

There was a companion detachment. I detached from my own single-minded need and focus on creating extended family. With new awareness I discovered freedom in becoming mindfully aware about opportunities for organically extending my new American family. Instead of clutching at an idealized goal I was free to be embraced by and embrace the life-giving energy of those with whom mutual bonds of relationship occurred more seamlessly.

Two decades later Shaun and I reconnected. He observed a new ease about who I am. I discovered a man who had done equally important interior work resulting in his anger and distrust of others making way for a more expansive, generous way of life.

Instead of slaying emotional vampires, detachment allowed room for each of us to flourish and cultivate our own well-being. It is easy to understand the reactions of those who respond to the emotional vampires in their lives with umbrage, anger, ridicule and pain. Those feelings are real but in choosing to nurture them we imprison ourselves by connecting an IV line of life-draining energy to our own lives.

As I recounted this experience my questioner’s perplexed look gave way to an insight – “I don’t have to choose to do battle with the vampires do I?” she asked rhetorically. Indeed not! The mindful choice to detach is an infinitely more courageous, life-affirming choice. For all involved.

Join the conversation – post your comments below

Robert’s new book A New Way to be Human is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and your local Indie bookstore

 

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16 Jun 12

Discovering a New Way to Be Human and Polish the World

by Robert V. Taylor

This blog interview appeared on the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation website on June 11, 2012

We don’t often stop to think about how the way we choose to manifest our unique humanity impacts ourselves and the world around us.  We are not conscious of the limitations we place on ourselves by old ways of being.  Yet we live in a world that needs our courage, creativity and imagination.

In his best selling book, A New Way to Be Human, nationally recognized speaker and author Robert V. Taylor explores the question of how we can each leave a footprint of compassion in the world by tapping into our personal spirituality and innate values.  We had the opportunity to talk with him recently about his ideas for more fully realizing our human potential.

 

DTPF What motivated you to write A New Way to Be Human?

RVT To invite readers to be happy and change the world. The sense of helplessness and disengagement that so many people feel about the world – “My voice doesn’t matter; my actions don’t really count” – leads you to clutch at life. There is another way! To live into the fullness of being human; to discover your magnificence and the truth that the world needs your active engagement as much as you do. The book invites readers into a more fulsome, happy and engaged new way to be human.

DTPF You speak in your book about connecting with stories – our own and those of others. How do we know which stories are the most important to share?

RVT Listen for the ones that make you feel alive, along with those that scare you. Pay attention! When you know your story and can be compassionate about every part of it – the wonder, regret, shame and joy – you tell it knowing that eternal wisdom and truth is revealed through you story. You then find yourself listening compassionately to the stories of others, attentive to the eternal truths and wisdom being revealed. Not every story is safe to share with just anyone but you will know that intuitively. Sharing your story you discover common ground with the most unexpected people. As you share who you are – not just what you do – your stories remind you that we need one another in order to be human. It’s a life-changing way of living each day and claiming your voice in the world.

Archbishop Tutu & Robert V. Taylor

DTPF One of the ideas you discuss in A New Way to Be Human is the limitations – enclosures – that we allow ourselves and others to place around us. What is the best way to recognize the enclosures we experience in our lives so that we can address them?

RVT Become aware of the things that you resist doing or think you’re not good enough or loved enough for. Beware of choices that are driven not by your passion and desire but by the needs of others or the habit of pleasing them. Each of those things constrains you, holding you back from your magnificence. They squelch your voice and cramp your compassion. You serve no one’s good by hiding behind whatever encloses you from being fully alive, happy and engaged. The book offers practical tools for stepping beyond what encloses you from your fullest self.

DTPF You talk in your book about reflecting the imagination of the Holy and “polishing the world?” What exactly to you mean by that?

RVT Our greatest failures come from a lack of imagination. When you chose to embrace your imagination life is different. Instead of looking at the world and accepting it the way it is you imagine the way it can be. That’s engaging and enlivening! Every seemingly small action that you do to make something better in the lives of others, in your community, school or in world helps to change and polish the world. What you do matters! Your actions allow the humanity of others to flourish. Lives and communities have a new shine to them!

DTPF One memorable story in your book has to do with your friend Joe who had stopped following the news because it ultimately made him feel helpless. This is something that many people experience today. Can you tell us how Joe was able to turn that deeply felt negativity around in his life?

The Los Angeles launch of A New Way to Be Human at LACMA

RVT Joe heard the challenge of a good friend to stop being disengaged and to see in the news an invitation to be part of changing the story line from bad to good news! Of course there are lots of terrible things in the world. But when we sit back we give them power. We are hard wired for love and compassion and we know it when discover life-giving energy by choosing to do something. As Joe responded to his friend’s challenge he found that he was drawn to stories about girls and young women denied education in many parts of the world. The bad news of those stories led him to learn about people and organizations doing something to give women access to education. It is probably one of the most transformative changes imaginable for the human family. So Joe got involved in an organization working in partnership with local organizations to provide that access. It’s changed his life. He’s no longer a helpless victim of life. He’s become an active participant in change and says he’s more fully alive because of it.

DTPF Many of us grow up being told that to think of others is virtuous, but that thinking of one’s self is not. How can your book help us better understand the difference between looking inward with love to learn who we are versus just being egotistical?

RVT Loving yourself is the greatest lesson and gift you will ever receive! You develop tenderness for yourself – warts and all. When you love yourself without conditions you want your own well-being. That’s where you discover happiness and how to be happy. With each step you take you become more compassionate about yourself. But none of this is a personal treasure to hoard. You discover that other people are loveable too – with all of their quirks. You can’t help but yearn for their well-being too. You desire happiness for all people. Loving yourself is the exact opposite of being egotistical! It makes you more fully human and alive because you realize that we need one another, that we’re inter-connected. Self-love becomes a generous outpouring of love for others.

DTPF You share a great quote in your book related to “limitless imagination.” You shared the story of a woman, Zelda who, because of the demands of her corporate career, was denying the “invitation to let go of the pause button” on her imagination. How can each of us learn to let go of the pause button on our own imagination?

RVT Listen to the tweets that your passions send you! There may be just one thing that you’re passionate about, that makes you feel alive. Pay attention – it’s the Universe inviting you to live life fully with whatever your gift is. That’s where you discover limitless imagination. When you choose to not listen to your passions and imagination you hit the pause button on your life. Imagine if any of your heroes had paused their imagination – the environmental, civil rights, gender equality, LGBT and other movements exist because of imagination that is alive and engaged! The world needs your imagination at work every day as much as you do – it’s how change happens.

DTPF How would you describe being “at home in your heart” to a group of young people today?

RVT Listen to your heart! Science reminds us that our heart and brain are connected and when we only live in our head space we miss out on our heart pointing us to happiness, purpose and meaning. Celebrate the people and places who make your heart space alive and detach from the toxic people whose energy limits your ability to be at home in your heart. Allow your heart to feed your intuitive response to the people, places and causes that make you at home by filling you with life-giving energy.

DTPF What is the most important idea your book can offer a young person who wants to better their lives and those around them?

RVT Love yourself and share that love! Be kind to someone today, speak out on something you care about, take an action to make the world a more just place. Love – it’s in your DNA. Love like it’s the best day of your life.

Post your comments below or join the conversation about this interview on the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation website

Robert’s new book A New Way to be Human is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and your local Indie bookstore

 

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6 Jun 12

Gay Pride: Contagious and Mainstreamed by Obama

by Robert V. Taylor

Robert V. Taylor

This blog first appeared on Huffington Post June 5, 2012

Gay Pride month is contagious! It has become fearlessly mainstream thanks to President Obama’s unequivocal support of the view shared by increasing numbers of Americans about the freedom to marry. Together with the seismic shifts in public acceptance of LGBT people this year’s Gay Pride month is approached with new lenses.

My grandmother and her friends used the word gay to describe people who were happy or having a good time. In the Buddhist tradition happiness is about seeking the well-being of all people. In the Jewish tradition “shalom” is understood not as the absence of conflict but seeking the economic, emotional and spiritual well-being of others. It is about being complete and whole.

Pride month is a reminder of the desire to claim and seek the well-being of LGBT people. It also points to a wider, more fulsome desire for the well-being of all. In the era of identity politics, pride in our own identity is only as proud as the desire to acknowledge our need for the magnificence of each person to shine through about who they are. Anything less plays into the hands of those who for political or religious reasons seek to demonize and sow discord. Pride points to a higher truth of inclusion.

In the ethnic and cultural festivals celebrated in American cities communities proclaim their heritage, invite others to experience their culture while creating bridges of understanding. They invite the wholeness and well-being that results from new awareness about our inter-dependence.

A few years ago I stood among the hundreds of thousands lining Fifth Avenue in New York for the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. It was a grand celebration of pride in claiming their place in the fabric of the life of New York and the United States. Although no one in my family is Puerto Rican I felt gratitude for the way in which my life in New York was enriched by that heritage. I was proud to be embraced by their pride and celebration.

While the annual observance of Black History Month is a celebration of the life of African-Americans it serves a unique role in inviting reflection on the history of an entire nation whose culture has been enriched by African-American even in the face of egregious injustices that still affect the national psyche. Pride is intermingled with the nuances of celebration, regret, recognition and remorse. Those reactions are given new meaning when there is a resolve that the past will give way to a pride-filled inclusion for the well-being of all.

President Obama’s historic endorsement of the freedom to marry has shifted the ground of what Gay Pride means. It marks the mainstreaming of LGBT Americans. It also plays catch-up with how Gay Pride has transformed how we think of ourselves as LGBT people and how our families, colleagues and neighbors view us.

To be sure, homophobia and discrimination still exist. The persistence of bullying of LGBT youth is insidious. These realities do not do anything to further the well-being of LGBT Americans. For many, Pride celebrations are a reminder of the legislative and community actions still required to end such ignorance, hate and discrimination.

The President’s statement reflects what Pride has accomplished. When individuals organize to express pride, often across lines of division within the LGBT community, they declare a healthy self-acceptance that also point to accepting difference within their own community. But Pride is not just about those of us who are gay.

Pride gives permission to others to come out of their closets and acknowledge that they have pride in a gay child, family member, colleague, classmate or neighbor. When LGBT people and those in their circles declare enough self-love about their own well-being by coming out we are all able to view each other though lenses of appreciation. In that moment the scary factor of the unknown “other” is replaced with a new normalcy.

It’s why the upward curve of acceptance toward LGBT people and the right to marry continues to increase exponentially. Pride month invites celebration of the strides made towards inclusion and the well-being of LGBT people. It also invites us to actively pursue those same realities for all people.

Post your comments below

Robert’s new book A New Way to be Human is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and your local Indie bookstore


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4 Jun 12

Embracing Inclusion Banishes Fear

by Robert V. Taylor

Robert V. Taylor

A version of this blog first appeared on Huffington Post, May 26, 2012

Openly gay Air Force Cadet Graduates gift us with their pioneering courage! At personal cost they point to the truth that the moral arc of the Universe bends toward inclusion. Their courage is an invitation to trust in our own imagination and voice embracing inclusion that banishes fear.

President Obama was the speaker at the US Air Force Academy graduation in Colorado Springs where these newly graduated lesbian and gay cadets took their rightful place alongside their heterosexual classmates. How fitting that the President who secured the end to LGBT discrimination in the armed forces participated in this historic moment of the defense forces of the US once again leading the way on civil rights and inclusion just at it did decades ago in the work of desegregation.

For some of us the fearless courage of the new cadets is a given because we have made strides to live authentic, integrated lives in which we claim the fullness of our humanity. In decades to come people will look back at this moment wondering why it was a big deal. It is a seismic moment reminding us of the courage and self-love that it takes to step beyond whatever encloses us, keeping us from the fullness of our magnificence and well-being – no matter who we are.

Like many LGBT people my journey to coming out was a circuitous one. In the oppressive apartheid years of South Africa it felt physically unsafe to be out. In the years that followed in my new home in New York each step out of the closet to claiming my identity was matched with a half step back. It did not always feel emotionally and spiritually safe to be transparent. The bad advice of those who loved me, expressing concern for my welfare and employment as they urged me to be circumspect, was like a sedative keeping me from being fully human.

In a transformative moment I responded to the veiled threats of being outed and attacked for the sexual orientation that comprises a part of my identity. In my night sweats of fear about an imminent outing I discovered a wakeup call. No longer would I ever again live with the threat of denying my fullness. No longer would I freely give such power to others. Instead I made a choice to claim my story, voice and love just as these cadets have done.

It was a new moment on the road to living an integrated life. My sexual orientation would be as fully embraced as my love of cooking, exercise and mystery novels. It would become a co-equal identifier along with my Palestinian and South African heritage, my experiences as an exile and an immigrant. They would co-exist in unexpected new harmony.

My own fears were not about the people whom I loved rejecting me. They were all fears about those outside of my immediate circle of trust and love; fears of losing a job and being rejected as a community leader. In naming and befriending my fears their power to confine and define me was deflated.

The pioneering cadets who are out about who they are have probably not arrived at that truth without courage and struggle. The world needs their voices as much as the suspension of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” needs it in order to live into the promise of full inclusion without threat, fear or intimidation. Their personal struggles dealing with the dying remnants of homophobia as the institution they serve adapts to new realties will still be real. But they already know the enlivening freedom from fear.

Courage emerges from the self-love that demands your own well-being. These Air Force cadets invite others to give voice and imagination to the inclusive well-being of all.

Post your comments below

Robert’s new book A New Way to be Human is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and your local Indie bookstore

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4 Jun 12

Death – The Final Word?

by Robert V. Taylor

Robert V. TaylorThis blog first appeared in Huffing Post May 24, 2012

Most Americans believe there is an afterlife. Regardless of what you believe about an afterlife death slams the brakes on the present unlocking a cavalcade of memories. In the afterglow of that impact there is an unexpected invitation to a container of wholeness. Death is not the final cradle.

As my mother navigated the final weeks of her life as best she could her resolute longing to die was striking. Not because she hated life but because she imagined rejoining my father. The kindly medical staff doggedly determined to interrupt her sleep in order to collect a myriad of data believed that if a test or procedure existed it should be performed. In her they discovered a determination to choose to avoid further indignity.

In spite of decades working with the dying and bereaved families my familiarity with end of life choices, death and grief was now staring me in the face reflecting the image of the woman who gave birth to me. The tools I’d learned and the wisdom I’d received from the dying was suddenly stripped naked by my own emotions and responses.

I turned to the resources offered by the national organization Compassion and Choices.  Well versed in the subject matter I soaked it in like a desert plant storing water. Faced by a well-meaning doctor who wished to keep my mother hospitalized for a final salvo of tests and indignities she rallied to insist that she wanted to go home to die in peace. There were worse experiences for her than dying.

With the support of her own primary care physician and her sons and sons-in-law Hospice made it possible for her wish of dying with dignity at home to be honored. In the last hours of her life death was slamming the brakes on a breath she freely wished to relinquish.

My own grief and the memories that surface at unexpected moments are not unexpected. Unexpected are the memories of others that craft a more fulsome picture of my mother which fill me with gratitude. They all reflect a common thread of a woman who made others laugh at her own expense. They speak of love in their friendship, albeit the love of a certain generation that went unspoken and unnamed. Unbeknown to her sons there was even a reconciliation of a frayed relationship just weeks before her death. As a son I knew of her love but it is in the stories of others that I realized the pride and depth of that love for her sons and their spouses.

Like many my mother was a person of contradictions and unresolved nuances. Charming, funny, engaged and embracing of life she was equally adept at seizing the moment to be obstinate, withdrawn and circumspect.

The stories that reveal her fullness illuminate the truth that she was a large personality who was raised in an era when most girls were frowned upon for claiming that truth about them. No wonder she was drawn to the personalities on steroids of people like Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Diana and the pantheon of star female tennis players.

Death may have slammed the brakes on my mother’s life but it was a happy day for her. Those same brakes have pushed open a host of memories revealed in the stories of others in which I discover a new wholeness and fullness to her life. Thinking about an afterlife is nowhere as comforting, surprising and life-giving as the gift of the spacious container of her life robustly cradled in the breath and voice of others. The final word is not death but life.

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Robert V. Taylor’s A New Way to Be Human is available at your Indie bookstore, Barnes & Noble and Amazon

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24 Mar 12

Religious Freedom and Birth Control Debate: Religion’s Death Wish?

by Robert V. Taylor

Robert V. Taylor

This blog first appeared on Huffington Post March 20, 2102

The Luddite approach is not a winning one for religion. Denial of access to contraception and the right of religion to freely discriminate strutting under the guise of religious liberty is no liberty at all. It is a churlish death wish competing against a more generous spirituality of freedom rooted in kindness and compassion.

Choosing to define yourself by what you hate, abhor and rail against might play well to a core group but it is not a recipe for attracting those looking for a spirituality of purpose and meaning amidst the more hued complexities of being human. Exclusionary religion may explain why the Pew Research Organization reports that twenty-five percent of those under 30 now describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated.

In the age of internet access to wisdom on demand the prelates and leaders who proclaim that social norms and arrangements are immutable create a caricature of themselves similar to the nineteenth century Luddites who resisted all of the seismic changes of the Industrial Revolution.

The debate over whether religiously affiliated institutions have to provide access to contraception is presented by some as a desperate defense of religious liberty. Cardinal Dolan of New York bolsters that position by asserting that the bishops are the only ones who “speak for the truths of the faith.” Beyond questions of religious polity, his assertion attempts to silence the divergent voices of faithful lay people and Catholic institutions alike. The liberty being defended is revealed to be no liberty at all unless you agree with him.

The daily lives of ordinary people are replete with opportunities to make ethical, moral and social choices in the context of their liberty to so with good conscience. The fact that “ninety-eight percent of sexually experienced women of child bearing age and who describe themselves as Catholic” use contraceptives does not make them bad people. Most would see little value in connecting their choice and the authority of the men who “speak for the truths of the faith.” Instead their choice reveals the truth that spiritual wisdom for daily living is revealed in the competent decisions and choices of people.

In Colorado, Focus on the Family is building a coalition to put an initiative on the ballot that would allow religious organizations and individuals the right to discriminate based on their religious beliefs. Presented as a ballot in support of religious liberty it would effectively deny all protections from discrimination if approved. The denial of liberty that would result is no liberty at all.

The churlish death wish of these modern day Luddites reflects fear, lack of trust and an entitled presumption that they know best for others. It effectively defines their religious beliefs by what they are against rather than what they are for.

A spirituality of inviting generous inclusion of all can be found in the core texts of most religious groups. Its companions of kindness, compassion and love honor each human being and our liberty to make wise, informed choices. This liberty imagines living beyond fear of what we do not understand or agree with. It invites attentive listening and compassionate hearts for one another. It assumes a way of life in which we value placing trust in the inherent goodness of each person as expressed in our disagreements. It also honors the polity and structures of organizations but does not confuse them with the Holy. This liberty acknowledges the important role of leaders while honoring the unique leadership of each person.

The current debates over religious liberty reveal a fault line on one side of which some wish to build a moat to protect their deeply held positions or beliefs. On the other side of the fault line are those willing to risk a messier, less centralized way of making sense of life, meaning and spirituality. In between stand a large number of people who make a choice to silence the noise of the debate in order to go about finding their way to being the kind, good and compassionate people that they are.

The choices made reflect which path leads to being fully alive and fully human in the context of the messy, magnificent human family.

Post your comments below

Robert’s new book A New Way to be Human is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and your local Indie bookstore

This blog was first published by Huffington Post on March 20, 2012

 

 

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14 Jan 12

MLK: Envy or the Beloved Community?

by Robert V. Taylor

Robert V. Taylor

The “politics of envy” in the United States is political fodder masking a truth that Dr. Martin Luther King pointed to almost 50 years ago. He said his entire work pointed to one goal – the creation of a “beloved community” of Americans. His prescient words invite a new conversation about who we are.

The Pew Research Center reports that two thirds of Americans believe that conflicts between the rich and the poor are strong or very strong. The stagnant or falling wages for the poor and the middle class over the last decade stands in sharp contrast to increasing wealth held by a few. The Great Recession and the Occupy movement make those data starker.  

The data do not reveal envy of the wealthy.  Instead Pew and the latest Gallup research reveal that most people want jobs, fair wages and opportunities to work and succeed. Fairness is a very different conversation than the envy that some expediently talk about.

It’s not politically fashionable to talk about the poor these days. Those who dare to couch it in language about the “working poor” as if honest honorable work is a bearer of poverty. The political consensus that most of us implicitly support is that it is more prudent to worry about the middle class. It is a false either/or compact. It diminishes all of us by casting some aside.

Marti Luther King believed that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice.  While we celebrate his leadership on civil rights we generally ignore his leadership on economic issues made plain in his Poor People’s Campaign.

King was clear that civil rights and economic opportunities are questions of justice collectively pointing to the overarching vision of creating a new “beloved community” in the United States. His faith and politics were rooted in how to create that community.

Imagine leaders who lead us to a new sense of oneness as people; who remind us of our need for one another; who celebrate the richness of our collective strengths; who see strength in our diversity and who are not fearful of the truth that none of us prosper unless the well-being of all is possible.

Imagine that leader being you and working intentionally to make a beloved community possible. It’s often said that we get the leaders we deserve. I’m not sure that is true. Instead we often cede the public conversation and leadership to the alpha types who have their own agenda about political power.  All too often we disengage out of exasperation.

There is another path that celebrates Dr. King’s living legacy. Celebrating your leadership and work to bring about the beloved community, you begin to shift the expectations of what kind of society and people we want to be.  King believed that it was possible to “transform opposers into friends” and “transform the deep gloom of the old age into exuberant gladness of the new age.” That possibility lies in your hands; in the possibility of organizing for our oneness when the well-being of all is a value.

This moment in history is an invitation to that dream becoming a reality.

Post your comments or response below

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31 Dec 11

Steps to New Year Peace?

by Robert V. Taylor

Robert V. Taylor

Is it possible to imagine peace in the New Year? It is if you claim your voice and imagination. The world needs that from each of us. Every intention and act of yours shapes what it means to be human and create a culture of peace as you take steps in that direction.

Peace sounds too big, too overwhelming to many.  Instead of being debilitated by what you can do to bring peace about back up and approach it from two other vantage points. Peace emerges when conflicts are resolved and ended. Peace in the tradition of the Hebrews is all about actions that promote the well-being of all. Not too different than the Buddhist intention of happiness for all beings.

When you think of ending a conflict, or seeking the well-being of another, or desiring happiness for others the possibility of peace is reimagined.

Your own choices and awareness will invite you to make a difference in the year ahead. These steps might add to your intentions:

Be Intentional. Peace is only possible when your hope becomes an active virtue. A specific intention to make peace will ground and make you accountable. Perhaps you will actively work with the children in your life to model attentive listening that transforms misunderstandings and makes reconciliation possible.

End a Conflict. Choose to end a conflict in your community, at work or in your family. When the happiness or well-being of all is a goal it becomes possible to imagine a resolution that moves those involved beyond entrenched positions.

Choose Compassion. We are made for compassion. Your intention to live a life of compassion creates a ripple effect among all whom you engage with. Every compassionate action of yours invites others into the circle of compassion. Learn from organizations like the Charter for Compassion or the Compassionate Action Network.

Say Yes to Peace by saying No to violence or bigotry. Join others in breaking the silences that give permission to violence or threats against people who are perceived as different.  Show up to a rally against school bullying; participate in a school board or legislative meeting to provide protections against discrimination.

Engage with the world and Universe to remember that we need one another.  Learn about an issue affecting the well-being of the planet or about a religion or culture you do not understand. Share your learning’s with those in your orbit; write, blog and speak about them. Your voice will mitigate fears of the unknown, illuminate others and point to our oneness.

With these and other choices you may already have made your voice and imagination is engaged in shaping a world where a culture of peace is possible. The happiness and well-being of yourself and others is all bundled together. Ending conflicts wherever you encounter them opens the path to a happy life of well-being for all.

Peace in the New Year depends on your active engagement!

Post your comments and steps to peace below

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29 Dec 11

Your Voice as Person of the Year?

by Robert V. Taylor

Robert V. Taylor

The Protester has been elevated by Time Magazine to a richly deserved new status. When you claim your voice as an individual you become more fully alive. When your voice joins together with the voice of others for the well-being of many you become more fully human. The Protesters invite us to new awareness about our oneness as human beings.

From the streets of US cities to those of Egypt, Libya, Syria, Myanmar and other countries a common human thread is being given voice to. It is the human yearning for our interconnectedness and shared humanity to be dignified and honored.

In place of the narrow interests of a few, the Protesters who Time honors as the Person of the Year demand that the well-being of all be reflected in political and economic arrangements marked by fairness and opportunity.  It is a reminder that our humanity is all bundled together. 

While the specifics of what that looks like will always vary from country to country the yearning for freedom and accountability stands in stark contrast to the violence inflicted by severe distortions of economic and political benefits that accrue only to a few. The magnificence of each person flourishes when the well-being of all marks how we engage with one another.

No wonder Time highlights the Protesters. They invite us to remember that our humanity and purpose is best discovered together.

The invitation to this truth is discovered each time we claim our voice. With every seemingly small contribution in our local communities our voices collectively turn into actions that seek to expand what it means to belong as members of the one human family. Every voice is of value; every voice is important; every voice is needed.

How will we each join with others as Persons of the Year in words and acts that point to the truth that we perish or flourish together?

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