WORDS ARE ALIVE!

“A word is dead when it is said, some say, I say it just begins to live that day,” Emily Dickinson.

Words are alive when used, and are very powerful in communication. I am amazed as a writer myself how words can jump off the paper and create visions and dreams of a better world. When writing, I know that I am merely the tool for which the Great Spirit expresses itself to the world. Human civilization literally rests on three pillars; the ability to communicate, knowledge, and the ethic of telling the truth.

The Hebrew word which is greatly alive is TIKKUN. Tikkun is to mend, repair and transform the world. The word breathes fresh and inspiring life in its ability towards action through transforming the world. Tikkun challenges people instantly to do something, rather than sitting back in their “Lazy Boy” recliners and doing absolutely nothing to help transform the world. Every one of us has a responsibility to transform the world in their own neighborhood. All of us, at one point or another through our lives have hurt someone, where we need to mend or repair that relationship. Through our indifference, we collectively have ignored most of the world’s poor and those struggling for true freedom. Most of us need to learn the words that will liberate us into transforming and changing people to care for one another.

Tikkun should lead us toward forming solidarity among all equal and fair human beings throughout the world. Solidarity means that we affirm our responsibility towards each other within our families, within our world, and within our spiritual/religious community. We must go beyond the narrow boundaries of ethnicity, religion, and geography. We must affirm the obligation to actively resist injustice and refuse to take part in it even when we can’t prove that our resistance will produce change. In solidarity with the poor and oppressed, as Jesus of Nazareth taught us, we should pray to see the democratization of economic and political institutions and a redistribution of wealth so that all people can share equally and sustainably in the benefits of the earth. We must hope, wish, and pray to have the ultimate courage to always speak truth to power!

Examples of speaking truth to power is protesting all immoral wars and acts of violence and terror. People that we must challenge are President Bush, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Yasser Arafat, Saddam Hussein and Congress just to mention a few. Bully nations such as the United States must be made aware of their many immoral actions throughout the world which continue to destroy the poor and oppressed for the sake of unjust capitalism, which is neither fair or equitable to the vast majority of civilization. We need to speak truth to power against nuclear weapons, the School of Americas, the death penalty, human rights and civil rights violations, and the so-called “wars on drugs and terrorism” just to mention a few more immoral actions that lead towards destruction of our awe-inspiring, God-created, beautiful environment.

I would hope all of us would be willing to fight non-violently for the highest ideals in life; LOVE and PEACE! We must continually affirm only what is good for all people in the world. We should take loving and caring as serious goals for social healing, and reject the utilitarian and materialistic assumptions of the contemporary world. Ending our isolation and alienation of others in the world should be our number one priority, NOT the Defense Department (Pentagon). Most people, especially in the U.S., suffer from their inability to recognize everyone in the world as holy, sacred, and deserving of our unconditional love. We should begin the long journey to overcome our own large egos and see ourselves as part of the Unity of All Being. We all need God energy or Spirit to be one with all the universe!

Next, we need a spiritual consciousness alongside with our political consciousness if we are ever to heal and transform the world from the depths of hatred and immoral violence, whether State sanctioned or not. We should be able to talk about love and caring for each other if we are ever to overcome the old left/right dichotomies, and dead-end debates that fill the rhetoric of most elected officials.

The U.S. has promoted individualism, obsessive materialism and wasteful, immoral consumption. All of this has been compensation for the meaninglessness of our present day culture. Where have our high ideals gone? Where is the Spirit in those who run to church on Sunday, but fail to act and transform the world into a better place for all? My wife’s grandfather stated, “I just go to church, I don’t get involved,” while we ate our delicious meal on Easter Sunday. Easter, the day Jesus of Nazareth is believed to have rose from death and forgave all mankind of their sins, most good people sit idly by through ignorance of the truth, and do absolutely nothing to actively transform the world by helping the poor and oppressed. Those of us who claim to be Christians must follow Jesus Christ’s teachings of love towards all, even our enemies. The perception that we have “no time” to do what is important in life is only a poor excuse propped up to only selfishly think and act for our own self-interests. While teaching full-time religion at Notre Dame High School in Burlington, Iowa, I was shocked and saddened by the overwhelming ethic of greed by the parents and students. It was far worse in the so-called Catholic Christian school, than in the public schools in which I teach now. The violence and hatred are the same due to the media and Hollywood. We need to engage with the Spirit to change our schools, churches, Congress, etc.

A renewal of our Being must begin, based on awe, wonder and radical amazement at the mystery of the universe and the mystery of every beautiful human being on earth as a manifestation of the sacred Spirit. Presently, most of us and our institutions have become spiritually impoverished, acquiring ever more things continues to provide us with an illusion of fulfillment. In our capitalistic, not democratic society, we’ve been led to believe the lie perpetuated by the media and our immoral government that security comes through endless materialistic accumulation, and peace comes from the barrel of a gun or bomb – all immoral lies! The truth that we must speak loudly and boldly comes through the “alive” words and actions of Tikkun. Rather than rushing about seeking machines and gadgets, and weapons, all of us need to increase our intellectual and emotional level of our daily consciousness to seek out the renewal of our heart and soul.

The struggle to heal our world has increasingly become more difficult, but for the survival of the human race and our environment we must sustain a true and lasting commitment to a transformative agenda. Make the time to help create a better world for all, by mending and repairing our society through a letter to the editor, a letter to Congress and the President. Remember, all our words are alive, and can speak truth to the powers to be. Words are very powerful, use them lovingly and caring. Lastly, learn to bless the whole world, not just the USA, but God Bless The World!