Tag: freedom

Remember Your Heart

How do we live through difficulties and challenges with our life spirit intact? The current political landscape is full of such extreme divisiveness and hatred, both nationally and globally, that it is hard to feel optimistic about the future. Almost daily my heart is filled with sadness, and peace on Earth seems like a lost dream. Recently, as I sat staring out the window at a cloudy winter landscape, I sensed similar cloudiness within me. I realized then that I had felt exactly the same way in the late 1960s when the Vietnam War was at its height, and fiery race riots raged in Detroit, Newark, Watts, and other cities. The world seemed to be in hopeless conflict, and I couldn’t see how basic human rights, justice, equality, and peace could ever come to be.

Many others of my generation felt similarly, and it was the birth of movements for nonviolent social change and the possibilities they held that helped us survive. Civil rights workers and peace activists, flower children and feminists, began to grow in numbers (yes, I was among them). The vision we held for a more loving and harmonious planet moved us forward, our hands and hearts joined. Music, speeches, marches. Hope lived in collective actions by thousands against war, racism, sexism, homophobia, and environmental destruction. Over the years, gradual but significant changes took place, even nationally. The end to the Vietnam War. The first African American President and first woman Vice President; a more diverse Congress. Women’s health rights. Voting rights. Martin Luther King Jr. Day; Earth Day. Legalization of gay marriage. Rainbow flags across the country seemed to symbolize the possibility of a diverse and inclusive future for all.

 Yet systemic racism and injustice, misogyny, anti-Semitism, hatred of immigrants, transphobia/homophobia, and the rise of the 1% economic elite continued to grow and become stronger. Right up to the present, when it all burst out into high-profile predominance with the current elected (and non-elected) government and its single-minded focus on power and money. Decades of social change are being battered and broken. Once again I/we are facing hopelessness.

At times like this, we need to remember what lifted our spirits and helped us through in the past. The positive energy that inspired us and encouraged us to continue. In books, articles, speeches, songs, films, meetings, demonstrations—in hundreds of places across the country and around the world, we have been sustained by our individual and collective voices of hope for human freedom, equality, compassion, and love. This is our Survival Kit for Troubled Times.

This past week,  I watched two classic Frank Capra films from the 1930s: You Can’t Take It With You and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Both films are quintessential Capra: average citizens pitted against ruthless wealthy businessmen and unscrupulous politicians. They struggle against seemingly impossible odds and yet in the end, “we the people” prevail. Each film is a hopeful vision as well as a cautionary tale. One with relevance today. How many times over the years have people been called to stand up and refuse to relinquish the dream of a just and free world, a heart-centered humanity? Sometimes it seems like a horrible replay that we don’t want to relive, but we came to Earth for exactly this. With each generation, there is a shift, a further awakening into recognizing the basic oneness of everyone and everything, even in the midst of our differences.

We have to remind ourselves that possibility lives within impossibility. In her book A Paradise Built in Hell, Rebecca Solnit writes about groups and communities of caring, support, and mutual aid that have spontaneously arisen within disasters, both natural and human-made. As unlikely as it may seem, when everything falls apart, humans often turn to one another with kindness and generosity and build connections anew within great loss. Such stories belong in our Survival Kits, along with memories of our own strength and resilience, our own optimism in the face of pessimism. Maybe “hell” will begin to recede as our human hearts reach out to each other with hope and resolve. As my friend Heather recently said, “Remember your heart.” Everything we need is within us and among us.

Heroes Among Us

When people think of heroes, they often picture those who risk their lives to save lives, such as first-responders. Indeed, these individuals are definitely courageous heroes. Yet, there are others in our communities who are also heroic and touch our lives in many different ways. For instance: teachers, who with dedication and purpose hold the door open to our education and growth as human beings. From teachers, we learn to think, to explore ideas, and to expand our minds to include all kinds of views of the world. One of the greatest gifts that teachers can give is support for being ourselves.

My grandmother, uncle, and aunt were teachers. My wife has been a teacher all her adult life, first teaching history to potential high school dropouts (using Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States), then graphic design to college students and adults, and eventually web design to people of all ages. One of her fondest memories is of a student who told her how kind she was and how much she had helped him learn. Often kindness and compassion are what we remember most about our teachers.

My fourth-grade teacher was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. She treated her nine-year-old students with gentleness, humor, and respect for each of us as individuals. My favorite part of the day was a reading hour in which we could read the many varied books she had collected at the back of the room (or any we had brought ourselves). She honored our independent directions and choices in learning and in life. Not all teachers are encouraged to do this, however, especially now.

Today, many local and state laws are dictating what can and can’t be taught, as well as what books are available in libraries. The history of slavery, systemic racism, gender identity, and climate change are prohibited from mention in increasing numbers of educational institutions. The lists of “banned” books grow nationwide (classics such as The Diary of Anne Frank and The Color Purple). Belief systems constrict how we are “taught” and what we read. Teachers are currently facing a particularly heroic path in this country. And they persevere, in spite of the challenges.

I feel such gratitude for the teachers in my life, past and present, wherever I may encounter them. For not all teachers are in classrooms or education venues. In daily life, I learn from friends, as well as strangers, who speak and live their truth in the world. Wisdom can be passed on in so many ways: a shared poem or song; a calming insight; an expansive, inclusive idea. I learn from activists who speak out for freedom and justice (Bernice Johnson Reagon, Howard Zinn), as well as from spiritual teachers whose lives are centered in loving-kindness and peace (Thich Nhat Hanh, Sharon Salzberg). To live love by being love is deeply heroic and inspiring.

Sometimes people become heroes in the simple act of being themselves and in doing so teach others how essential freedom of expression is. The transgender community especially embodies this kind of heroism. When we listen openly to those who have been silenced or outcast, we learn to become more compassionate human beings. The courageous voices of everyday heroes who speak and act from their hearts and souls inspire us to do the same. Together we all step into living heroic lives committed to kindness, freedom, peace, and unconditional love.

Walking, Everywhere

I’ve been a walker all my life, in a world of cars. I learned to drive at 16 but have rarely driven because I’ve lived mostly in or near cities, where public transportation, biking, and walking were my norm. Even though I grew up in the Illinois countryside, as an adult I gravitated to urban life. There were so many possibilities there, including the freedom that comes from being able to walk everywhere: to work, to stores, to concerts and films, to parks, to nature sanctuaries. To meet friends for tea or dinner or to walk silently in solitude. All of it a gift.

I’ve walked so many places on this Earth. I spent five months hiking and taking trains through Europe after college. (Switzerland, by the way, is a perfect place for walkers—walking/hiking trails everywhere and some villages car-free.) In later years, I hiked Peru’s Machu Picchu and Hawaii’s Napali Coast, as well as throughout the Southwest and Northeast. I walked miles through the streets of cities I called home (San Francisco, Boston). Nothing could keep me from my daily walks. I even walked to/from treatments for breast cancer in the middle of winter in Cambridge, Massachusetts!

Walking is like opening a door for me. On the other side is everything. The sense of awe at the beauty of Nature and the inner spiritual connection when I walk in parks or sanctuaries. The deep feeling of freedom as I explore new areas in the towns and cities where I’m living. The challenge, however, is navigating this freedom in car-centric environments, which includes most places in the U.S.

When Anne and I lived in Florida, we loved the tropical flowers and water birds, but walking, except for short distances, was difficult. It is a world of cars and condos and shopping plazas. Walking is not a priority in most non-urban areas in the U.S. People rely entirely on cars, and sidewalks are infrequent or nonexistent. The town where we live now, south of Boston, presents exactly this challenge. I dash from one side of a busy road to the other in order to access occasional sidewalks—and then turn off into smaller streets of houses to continue walking. The upside though is a winding woodsy lane that leads to our condo community, all of which is pleasantly walkable. I can also take the train to Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge for car-free walking in Nature.

I walk for many reasons and experiences: exercise, errands, exploration, encounters with people, birds, wildlife. Ever-changing seasons and skies. Mental stimulation and spiritual connection. Walking is a wonderfully expansive way of being in the world. I have been inspired by other walkers whose lives I know of: poet Mary Oliver, who walked each morning in profound appreciation of the natural world on Cape Cod; Henry David Thoreau, who walked through the woods and fields of Concord, Massachusetts, where Walden Pond is located; Neil King Jr., who recently walked from Washington, D.C. to New York City after recovering from two bouts with cancer; and Peace Pilgrim, who spent 28 years of her life walking across the U.S. speaking with others about peace.

I will continue to walk everywhere possible. One of my greatest wishes is for the creation of car-free living zones across the U.S. with easily accessible public transportation, safe bike lanes, and walking paths designed for use by everyone of all ages and abilities, including those with walkers or wheelchairs. In the meantime, I remind myself every day to appreciate the blessing that walking is in my life, wonders visible with every step I take.

Books and Freedom

My grandmother was a librarian and schoolteacher. She loved books. My parents also loved reading, and our house had walls covered with bookshelves and books of all kinds. From the time I could read, I visited the local library regularly. It was a wonderful building—an old Victorian house with bay window seats, fireplaces, and rooms filled with books for all ages: children, young adults, and adults. Worlds opened up to me as I read my way through book after book. There was a freedom in that experience, an opportunity to travel to other times, other places. To expand habitual ways of seeing. Books can change your life. It did mine, and it continues to do so.

A well-written book can take you beyond your usual mental meanderings to locations and thoughts heretofore unseen or considered. It awakens the senses and touches the heart. It leaves you breathless with delight or tearful with empathy. It can engender gratitude for a world full of so many unique individuals and experiences. Such books open a door and welcome you inside, freely.

And this freedom is what is now endangered in the U.S. as books deemed a threat to more conservative belief systems are banned in state after state. Classic books such as Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and The Diary of Anne Frank. Even Charlotte’s Web. When the realm of “acceptable” beliefs constricts to one narrow perspective, freedom vanishes. Both children and adults lose the ability to wander the world in wonder and joy through the pages of diverse authors’ books.

Yet hope is not completely lost. It lives in the libraries and independent bookstores across the country that continue to carry and advocate for books that have been banned. When Anne and I moved to a new community in the Boston area recently, we were heartened to see an in-depth informational exhibit at the local library on book banning. An extensive history of banning books in the world was displayed along with book covers, including African American, feminist, and LGBTQ authors. The library encourages patrons to read these books with an open mind in order to experience varied lives and viewpoints. This is what freedom looks like.

Books are the common denominator of basic human rights. So many people have spoken about the importance of reading. Oprah Winfrey says books changed her life when she was growing up; as an adult, she created a book club to offer that experience to other readers. Reading books has inspired countless individuals and given them deeper self-awareness as well as compassion for others.

My own life would have been very different without books and the life possibilities I saw in them (like becoming a writer myself). I traveled the world, in imagination and then in reality, because of experiences I first had through reading. I learned of the challenges and struggles of others through reading about their lives and often hidden historical events. Books not only offer freedom to the mind and body, but they also give the soul freedom to soar. To me, this is the essence of life on Earth.

Are Your Opinions Holding You Back?

Photograph ©2019 Peggy Kornegger
Do you consider your beliefs sacrosanct? Do you hang onto them at all costs, even at the loss of friendships or family ties? Historically, beliefs and opinions have split entire countries and started wars on this planet. People cling to them as if to a life raft in a sea of uncertainty and tumultuous change. We often are so identified with our beliefs that we can’t imagine life without them, exactly as they were first formed. Yet our minds are always in flux, whether we’re fully aware of it or not. Life on Earth is never just one thing, one set of rules for being human. And never more so than at this time of planetary transformation and human evolution.

If we step back from identification with our physical forms, it’s possible to see them as merely costumes we wear for this lifetime. Our thoughts and opinions are part of that costume. If we totally identify with our physicality and thoughts, we are frequently stopped from moving forward in our lives by how our minds view change. On the other hand, if we come to realize we are part of something much greater—universal consciousness—this awareness gives a wider perspective and ultimately greater freedom in our lives.

Opinions and beliefs, if held too tightly, can define the parameters of your life experience. On the other side of rigid and inflexible thought forms is the natural flow of life and of infinite possibility. This is wisdom I learn again and again, most recently when I was trying to decide whether to attend an annual event that I have been part of for years. This year, however, both the structure and content had changed radically, and I no longer felt aligned with the energy. Yet there were still parts of it that I loved and felt drawn to. What to do? Initially, I stood firmly in “no,” believing it would violate my principles if I went. Then I remembered an experience I had 14 years ago and what it taught me about having an open mind and heart.

In 2005, I had just met two Maya elders from Guatemala, Mercedes and Gerardo, who were sharing their traditional teachings at Rowe Center in Massachusetts. After a weekend of intense teaching including a 3-hour fire ceremony, they invited a few of us to travel to Guatemala with them to take part in ceremonies at sacred sites there. It was an opportunity of a lifetime. In their tradition, however, women always wear long skirts in the ceremonies, and I had not worn a skirt for 20 or 30 years (a symbol of women’s oppression, you know).

I had to decide whether to say yes and honor their traditions or say no and hang onto my own beliefs. The answer was very clear. In deciding to go (and wear a skirt), I let go of everything that had made up my Peggyness before and went to Guatemala “naked” and open. I thus stepped into an extraordinary spiritual expansiveness, which continued in subsequent trips to Guatemala with them and in countless other experiences, up to the present.

Now, in facing a similar dilemma, I once again chose not to be held back by my mind’s ideas about what I should or shouldn’t do. In stepping aside from my own opinions and allowing another choice, I was opening the door to a new possibility: re-envisioning my life without filters or frames. It seemed freer and much more spacious. I felt as if I were flowing with the current of life instead of trying to force the current to go my way.

So this is the new paradigm we are living into: recognizing our mental costumes for what they are and moving into something greater. If you can keep the doors in your mind completely open (and that is entirely possible if your decisions are heart-centered), then you are walking a path on which each step is new and undefined by previous beliefs or opinions. You are dreaming your life anew with each breath you take. And nothing can hold you back.