❤️ 🎶 Rambling On with Brother Lefty Smith, S.O.B.* 🎶: Thunder and Lightening

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Thunder and Lightening

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the midst of the turmoil surrounding the upsurge of White Supremicist organizing and the tragedy in Charlottesville, I came across this brief video today on the web.

IMHO, this young man, an ex-skinhead, echoes what Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. saw clearly. Feeding their hatred with our own will never bring about the Peace and Justice that we all deserve.

These are incredibly challenging times. The alt right, neo-nazis, white supremacists and KKK are going to continue to make a lot of noise. The Bully in the POTUS pulpit ain't about to shut up.   Only our enLightening can steal their thunder.

Although there are legitimate grounds for our anger, pain and fear, IMHO I think that True Revolutionaries are called to transmute these energies into constructive, loving activism. We must not only continue to hit the ground running and take to the streets. We must make the time to gather together, organize, and create our own cooperative community institutions to challenge the existing structures. As Naomi Klein puts it in her new book: No is Not Enough!

It's showtime. We gotta get our act together.
Yours in Peace and Struggle,
Brother Lefty Smith

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