I am indebted to Dr Martin Luther King who inspired this conversation.
It's
Christmas
time again. The spirit of peace on
Earth
and good will to all people is upon us. Let's face it: by now the
tantalizing idea of peace on
Earth
and good will to all people is in danger of becoming just a worn out
refrain in one of those carols - and not much more. We sing it. We wish
it upon others. We
pray
for it. We
write
it (or Hallmark prints it) on our greetings cards. And all
of it is just going through the motions. Even as we're wishing
it upon others, isn't it only because the formality of the by now
hackneyed
words,
are traditional to utter at this time of year? Or do they really -
Listen! - bring forth a possibility?
If you sit for just a moment with the possibility of peace on
Earth
and good will to all people, it will ... blow ...
you ... away. It's awesome. And as far as I can
tell, we do at least three things which kill off peace on
Earth
and good will to all people like a possibility.
The first is we live peace on
Earth
and good will to all people as a concept, as the right
thing to vote for, as a bon mot where it has no life,
where it has no juice at all, rather than as a possibility
- big difference. And if we're not living it as a concept
and we're approaching living it as a possibility (which is
to say we're almost living it as a possibility) then we're
living it as if it's possible for us (we're the good guys)
but not for them (they're the bad guys). I'm sorry, but
that's the tired old paradigm of "a you or me
world" (the one half of what
Werner Erhard
may have said). It doesn't
work.
It's never worked. It won't everwork.
If you need evidence it doesn't
work,
turn on the evening news.
The second is peace on
Earth
and good will to all people can only
work
as a possibility for "a you and me world" (the
other half of what
Werner Erhard
may have said). And to invent peace on
Earth
and good will to all people as a possibility for a you and me world,
you have to speak it coming from
transformation.
Why?
Because if you don't speak it coming from
transformation
then it's not a possibility. Then it's simply a change. Isn't it
time we admitted changing the world doesn't
work,
has never worked, and won't everwork?
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose -
the more things change, the more they stay the same, yes?
The third is this: what's the deal with earmarking only
one day for every three hundred and sixty five days a year
for invoking peace on
Earth
and good will to all people? Only one day a year? Only one
day for every three hundred and sixty five? How petty. How stingy. How
small. How mean. How smug. No wonder the evening news shows what it
shows. Inventing peace on
Earth
and good will to all people like a possibility for a you and me world,
and speaking it coming from
transformation
- not just for a day, not just for a year, but for life -
is what the spirit of
Christmas
(the opportunity of
Christmas,
actually) really is.
Here's something else I'd like you to consider: saying "... not just
for a day, not just for a year, but for life ..." stops too short. A
possibility like peace on
Earth
and good will to all people, once completely invented will go on even
after my life ends. It's a possibility which may not be realized before
I die. So promising it is an impossible promise. It's planting
the seed of a
Christmas
tree under who's branches I may never sit.