❤️ 🎶 Rambling On with Brother Lefty Smith, S.O.B.* 🎶: It's Showtime

Friday, November 11, 2016

It's Showtime

"In this world, hate never yet dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, ancient and inexhaustible. " -- Buddha

"I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." -- Jesus

"Don't mourn. Organize!" -- Joe Hill

Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. moved mountains in their time. This is our time.

Seems like Truth and Love was the Basic Plan, right?

This election was the wake up call. Find some friends and figure out what to do -- and do it non-violently. We need to get our act together -- and ACT.

No one tactic is going to pull this off. Some of it looks like standing our ground with folks at Standing Rock. Some of that looks like reaching out to connect with the "other side".

Hell, I awoke yesterday thinking the best thing I could do is stop at the first house I see with a Trump sign, knock on the door, and engage in a respectful conversation to find out why they did -- and see where we can find some common ground.

We gotta start building some bridges here or it's all gonna be water over the dam.

It's showtime.
Yours in Peace and Struggle,
Brother Lefty

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My Humble Take on the Real Deal

I believe that the movement for peace, economic democracy and social justice is a Spiritual Quest. No mean feat, what is called for is a True Revolution of the Heart and Mind--and it starts with each of us.

This revolution has to be Peaceful. The Hippies (and Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. King, et al) had it right. It really is all about Peace and Love. Besides being a total drag, violence just doesn't work. It keeps our wheels spinning in fear, anger and pain. Who needs that?

Besides some hard work, I think the Revolution also calls for dancing, plenty of laughter, and some sitting around just doing nothing. (Some folks call it meditation.)

As Stephen Gaskin, proclaimed years ago:

"We're out to raise Hell--in the Bodhisattvic* sense."

Doesn't that sound like some serious fun?

(*The Bodhisattva Vow is a set of commitments made in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. It basically says I vow to get my act together and figure it out well enough to really help out--and I ain't gonna stop until everybody is covered.

I've found that doesn't necessarily have to happen in that order. It's best to try to help out even before you have it all together! Like right now.)

-----Brother Lefty Smith, Founding S.O.B*

"I think the hippies had it right. It IS all about Peace and Love. I came to realize, though, this is easier said than done. Living a life of kindness, clarity, and compassion takes effort, discipline and patience.

I also came to realize that, contrary to what we had been led to believe in a capitalist society, "rugged individualism" is a dangerous distortion of reality. It denies that fact that we are, each of us, connected to everyone and everything else. So, Peace and Love are relational, a collective experience. None of us can really get it together independently.

So, as Mahatma Gandhi and Dr King showed the world, finding others to work with, rolling up your sleeves, and engaging in non-violent political action is a freakin' no-brainer.

What else is there to do? "
--Brother Lefty