Southwest Sierra #117 – The Hope Essays: #2 Part 4

(Revisiting the writings of my youth) ~ Last week I complained about how long these essays from 31 years ago are and promised to take a break. Then two things happened that caused me to reconsider. First, I started reading a book that was sent to me by one of my readers: Is a River Alive? By Robert Macfarlane. The book made me aware of atrocities carried out against environmental activists in Ecuador including the murder on October 21, 2022 of 24-year-old activist Alba Bermio Puin. She was five-months pregnant. Then last week, on Sept. 10, 2025, 31-year-old right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a University in Utah. Two sides of the same coin?

The Garden continued

When I was in my early 20s my mother-in-law brought a little booklet home from the Methodist Church in Nevada City: Steps Towards Inner Peace by Peace Pilgrim. I found it on the Dining Room table and was delighted to learn that this woman who came to call herself Peace Pilgrim shared my same basic beliefs and that she had actually accomplished the incredible feat of living what she knew. In this little booklet she shares her spiritual progress and lessons in simple terms. What I gained from this booklet is too much to put into words, but the two lessons that have helped me the most are these: That problems are actually opportunities in disguise, and that only I have the power to let myself be hurt emotionally by others, either by my own wrong actions, reactions or expectations. (I added expectations to her list). Peace Pilgrim’s basic message is this: “This is the way of Peace, overcome evil with good, hatred with love and falsehood with truth.”

In the beginning of the “Steps Booklet” Peace Pilgrim introduces the reader to ego and conscience. This is a subject that I want to touch on again. The classic example of ego and conscience is in cartoons when a character is trying to make a decision and a little angel appears on one side of his head and a devil on the other. In “New Age” terms conscience is referred to as the “high-self” and the ego as the “low-self.” It is as if we have two selves and the decision maker, a trinity. Who is this “you” who decides between the two? It is simply your awareness or consciousness, what some would call the soul. In the bible I believe that this is the “breath of life” God breathed into humans. The ego is controlled by the base emotions: anger, vanity, greed, selfishness etc. The conscience is controlled by the heart emotions: love, compassion, hope, faith etc. Our consciences desire to do that which is in the best interest of the whole. “What is in the best interest of the whole” could be said another way: “God’s will.”

From my point of view if the ultimate goal of the “New Age Left” is to express their “high-self” and the ultimate goal of the “Religious Right” is to do “God’s will,” then they have the same ultimate goal. The right and left are presenting a challenge to each other, but I believe the challenge is mostly one of following the Golden Rule. Most religions and spiritual practices have a version of it. “In everything, then, do to others, as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 7:12).

Non-judgement is mentioned in many places in the bible. For example: “Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged; do not condemn, and you may not be condemned, set free, and you will be set free” (Luke 6:37). Another word for non-judgement is acceptance. Acceptance does not mean agreeing with someone. It means that you accept them for what they are. We all have a lot of growing to do. We can acknowledge this in a nonjudgmental way. The Native American saying is this: “Great Spirit, let me not judge another until I have walked a mile in his moccasins” [From a poem by Mary T. Lathrop, 1895].

In my own relationships with others, I have found that when I want somebody to change there is friction. When I truly accept a person for what he or she is, the person seems to change. You could say that I was the one who changed, it is a two-way exchange. I believe that the rules that apply to personal relationships also apply in political relationships. This will have to be “tested to be trusted, but to be tested it has to be trusted.” Buddha said that in another context. Once we eliminate the enemy of the “other” we are left with the challenge of mastering ourselves.

I am a “student on the path” and I certainly don’t claim to have mastered myself. I have experienced small “awakenings,” so I can tell you from experience what an awakening or spiritual realization is. When you know a truth in your heart and you understand it also with your mind, a marriage of the two occurs and you actually feel it in your body. This causes your point of view to shift. Because your point of view is different, your whole world is different. This marriage of the wisdom of the heart and the understanding of the mind is accomplished by practicing the truth that you know. May we keep our feet firm on the path of love and truth.

-end of “The Garden” originally written Oct/Nov 1994 and edited Aug/Sep 2025.