Nonviolent Liberty

As a writer I struggle with what to write at this point. I must write, it is written in the heart, and any writer will tell you that it is impossible to keep there long.

Does a writer risk to inflame an already tense society or let all settle down in hopes that emotions will ebb and flow allowing intelligence a better time to read? Or, is that never an issue for a writer?, more the responsibility of a reader to read what they will of your words or what they read into your words?

I have always taken this responsibility to heart when writing, searching to find the right words, better said the best sequence of words for my message delivery. Words I write or purposefully omit are to encourage discovery on the path we temporarily share. Perhaps I think about such things more than I should. At risk, creativity? or a fine tuning of intended message. All I do know for certain is I felt that responsibility writing, Dear Daisy and I still hold myself accountable to that value.

I've always encouraged the reader to turn the page, for no writer can write of their own heart, their own thoughts, open also to the heart-thoughts of their society on a single page. Not if we are to believe in next days, our own growth and discovery, and that the reader is on same path.

My heart-mind design,created by Someone Wiser than I and All-Knowing more my path than I could ever see day-to-day,is not the easiest to comprehend, still my job to figure out how to blend. An agitator just enough to spark awakening; a teacher just enough to find patience; a mediator for I have always been between two thoughts, both my own and those of others; a healer just enough to hold compassion; all a balancing of the same mind-heart. Of that, this day is not unlike most days I've lived and the writer within knows this truth.

Many times since days of high school, I've been told I write ahead of the times. Maybe true, or maybe why I feel the tension of a now or a then to a sometime coming. So here I'll share past writing and hope it is viewed by reader as I sense it to correlate to this today.

Many others have commented over the years that they can sense and read my child in my writings. I hope this true. Children I've ever known were awake, less inhibited to speak the truth they see and witness, yet more caring than we later learn to become. So room for my child to be present, to tag along, and to inform me when I sense grounded inner knowing wisdom required is more than alright with me.

History speaking, I've known a yesterday much like this today. Faced with an event I most wanted to move on from, then I had a conversation with an advocate friend and we spoke there of his work promoting nonviolence and my heart-mind, same. He asked what I needed to find my first steps towards resolution. I answered, "I've decided to write an Epistle." He echoed, "an Epistle, that's interesting." Then questioned, "why an Epistle?" I, certain he already knew, answered, "I figure, if Paul could, Jane can."

So with this Epistle, dated February 12, 2002, much of my faith statement is written, at least the foundation of what I believe. Following is a couple pages from that Epistle. I present it here because on this day these words represent how I feel about our current US conflict of heart, and I hope will better serve my expression than any statement I could offer or write specific to violence over a health care issue.


"The Jesus story to me is the foundation of positive peace and love, always bending toward Truth and most times Truth we care least to hear, or will cost us time and energy to do effort or to do nothing. His was the path and the footsteps retaken by St. Francis, Gandhi, Dr. King, suffragists for all causes; the path of patience, teaching, and healing. It is the story of boundaries and respect for it is grounded in the real, the here and now, and the physical body. It is the path of inner peace receiving the gifts of creation, the gift of life, the respect of all life and the sacredness of each. It is the walk with those less fortunate or those mobility restricted by society's biases, lack of empathy, or unwillingness to accept diversity in God's creation. It is the fight, always nonviolent and boundary honoring when passing Peace and Love, resisting temptation, overcoming evil, defending or marching for the "lesser" or "injured". It is "holding" and supporting with compassion without exception. It is the time of rescue or sacrifice (in word or deed) when another is in danger that will do harm to self or other; giving assistance running towards a collapsing building, life, or chaotic broken society; advocating dissent when destruction is done to God's Space and Earth.

His was the path that taught us that we each have our own, and it is our responsibility to keep loyal to the path and open to overcoming the challenges and temptations along our way. He is the One who taught us to have faith and hope in God as we face challenges and give thanks to God for our blessings. He spoke of love and mercy for our enemies as well as for our friends, and to treat others as we would wish to be treated. Jesus taught us to balance Spirit-Soul, to seek solitude, meditation, and contemplation to know God and to listen, and to walk back into the World to serve. He is the One who by example spoke to "us" so that we would know Truth when we hear it in words others speak along our paths, so that we'd sense those words as if He were speaking through them in this now or words that through the ages resonate and never die. Such words as "For every door that shuts, a window opens" or the song "We Shall Overcome", or the question, "Did your God teached you that?" (spoken by a slave)." (Dear Daisy)



Justice Learned Hand, "The Spirit of Liberty" excerpt from Speech, Central Park, New York City, May 21, 1944

"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and woman; when if dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their understanding alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit that taught mankind the lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest."

(Quote shared in Dear Daisy)


The last paragraph of the Epistle reads:

"Don't let the wilderness scare you and never fear the work of the Soul. Protect your Soul for it is the essence of who you are, how God sees you in His Greater Vision, the eyes we use to seek our true selves, the pathway back to God. Don't let the fears of self or fears of others hold you back from doing good works, from being true to your heart as God knows your heart, and from finding true happiness and being content. Listen to your inner wisdom and voice, keep an ear to the ground and the other towards Heaven for maybe God will answer a prayer or an Angel will sing. The Waters are deep and the Ground is fertile. God loves to listen to songs in the fields for they are the Prayers of Mobility sung in harmony with the wind and help to push the clouds aside to let His Sun shine down. I know this Truth; God makes a path for all His Children, keeps watch above, holds us in the palm of His Hands, and Jesus walked the footsteps.

God Bless our Path and Keep the Faith,

Jane"